Grit your teeth...

... while we work our way to the interesting stuff at the end.

Here's what I did:
1. Google U.S. business tax deductions data historical...
2. Get to irs.gov...
3. Search irs.gov for business tax deductions data historical...
4. Find Table 13...
5. Prepare to download Table 13.

The file I got was named histab13e(2).xls. You might not have the (2) in the name if you download it. I think I downloaded the thing once before, so I have (2).

The file contains corporate tax data for the years 1990-2010. Among the major categories: Number of returns, Total receipts, Total deductions, Income subject to tax, Total income tax, Tax credits, and Total income tax after credits.


I made a copy of the original page (Histab13E) and deleted a bunch of rows. Deleted most of the sub-categories, in case you don't have the appetite. I deleted none of the corporate tax credit categories, in case you want to get your blood pressure up.

Here's the zoho:



I made a copy of the file and reduced it even further, then added values for nominal GDP from FRED. Then I made a graph showing gross corporate income relative to GDP (blue), net corporate income relative to GDP (red), and corporate income tax owed (yellow):

Graph #1: Corporate Gross Income, Net Income, and Income Tax

The blue line says that gross income for U.S. corporations was almost twice the size of the U.S. GDP. Betcha didn't know that.

Oh, and the gap between the red and blue lines? That's all tax deductions.