There are discrepancies as to what people think corporations pay toward tax. There has recently been talk that corporations pay a 35% rate. It is not true. If research is done, there is much evidence to the contrary. Below are links to a Congressional study that researched how much corporations pay, as well as a chart from the General Accounting Office that shows incoming amounts and their respective source.

The information in the article below corresponds to research carried out for the film. The article below is from the Rocky Mountain News, August 13, 2008, page 9.

Here is a link to incoming government funds and their respective source. (5 pages pdf)

I used the Receipts by Source: 1934-2010 Table 2.1 and graphed the information by looking at the fiscal year data from 1953, and the decades that followed. I put the Individual and Corporate Income Tax information into a spreadsheet and calculated the percentage of the Total Receipts for their respective category and year. While the percentage of total revenue from incoming taxes from individuals ranged between 43 to 48 percent, the corporate percentage of total revenue went from 31 percent to 6 percent. While corporations generate great wealth, they do not pay a tax rate that is comparable to their income and profit. It is currently nowhere near a 35% tax rate that people typically use.

Here is the link to the GAO study that was carried out by Senator Byron Dorgan and Senator Carl Levin. (GAO Report, 37 pages pdf)

Business companies and corporations do provide beneficial goods and services to society. No society would be able to thrive without them. There is, however, a difference between smaller individually or family run businesses or corporations, and multinational corporations in regard to how much they pay in tax as well as how they interact with government policy and communities. It appears that huge multinational corporations that generate large amounts of wealth and have access to political power through lobbyists do not pay a proportionate amount of tax to the revenue generated. Indeed, they don't appear to pay that much at all. Instead, smaller businesses are paying a larger proportion of taxes respective to the revenue generated. This is part of the problem. There is also a large corporate media network that has been spreading misconceptions in the public. If people find information that supports the belief that large multinational corporations actually do pay a 35% tax rate, please send that information. In the meantime, keep in mind that because of media consolidation, it is easier for erroneous propaganda like this to get into the public mindset. Some of the information, however, on radio shows like Rush Limbaugh's talk show, is simply not true.