[MichaelZuo]

The corporate tax system is so complex it seems impossible to actually figure out what that 5% means though.

e.g. They could be highly concentrated in industries where tax accounting tricks are too hard to do effectively.

[TZubiri]

Corp income tax means the tax (30%) on profit(income-expenses) retained (not withdrawn to shareholders) year over year.

Berkshire hathaway is famous for not paying dividends and keeping profits and never selling shares, so this makes sense.

Most companies withdraw or reinvest as much profit as possible to reduce this tax.

[MichaelZuo]

How does this relate to my comment?

The 5% is a relative measure against all other corporations in the USA.

[TZubiri]

Oh that would be pretty clear to me:

Corporate tax paid by Berkshire Hathaway / Sum of Corp Tax paid by all US corps = 5/100 = 1:20

It's clear what it means, how they measure it would be another story, but I'm sure there is public budget information that clearly indicates what the 2024 taxation for that type of tax was.

[MichaelZuo]

You need to re read my comment… I’m not asking about doing basic fractions.

[twoodfin]

Insurance. It’s pure inflow vs. outflow margin. There’s not a lot of capital or operating expense to invest in relative to the massive cash flows.