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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

IOUs tax records refute their claims. [Investor-owned utilities]

Journal Article · · Public Power; (United States)
OSTI ID:6595993

Reports filed by investor-owned utilities (IOUs) with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reveal that their federal income taxes were only 7.5 percent of their 1981 before-tax incomes. The IOUs analyzed here are part of the 111 largest electric utility systems, having $250 million or more in total operating revenues. The electric revenues of these utilities represent about 93 percent of the electric revenues of all private electric utilities. IOUs contend their federal income tax expense for 1981 was much higher than the $1.3 billion in federal income tax charges they reported. This is because the $1.3 billion figure does not include deferred tax amounts which, they say, will eventually be paid. It will be shown that deferred taxes are, in effect, indefinitely postponed, and it is appropriate to ignore them when estimating the actual federal income taxes charged on IOU income. In fact, the reported charges ($1.3 billion), which exclude deferred taxes, may overstate the IOUs eventual tax liability for a given year.

OSTI ID:
6595993
Journal Information:
Public Power; (United States), Journal Name: Public Power; (United States) Vol. 42:5; ISSN PUPOA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English