Oil Company Founded By Energy Secretary Paid No Us Taxes Last Year

The company founded and formerly run by Energy Secretary Chris Wright paid no federal corporate income taxes last year, according to its regulatory filings, and actually got more than $10 million back from the IRS.

Liberty Energy, the oil field services company Wright founded in 2011 but left last year to join the Trump administration, was among several energy companies included in a report issued Tuesday by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy naming 88 companies that together made more than $105 billion before taxes last year but paid no federal corporate income taxes.

Liberty recorded net income before taxes of $193 million last year but received more than $10 million back in tax benefits, according to its latest annual financial disclosure. The company paid $33 million in federal taxes for the 2024 tax year after making a net income of $403 million before taxes.

Liberty did not answer questions about its tax position. Wright left his role as CEO of the company once he was confirmed to the Cabinet post on Feb. 3, 2025. ITEP's report did not mention Wright or his position in the Trump administration.

The White House referred questions to the Energy Department, which stressed that Wright is in compliance with the law.

“Upon Senate confirmation, Secretary Wright immediately resigned from board positions and began divesting assets that could appear to present a conflict of interest," the statement said. "This included divesting all his Liberty Energy shares. This process concluded in March 2025."

No one has accused Liberty and the other companies of having done anything illegal. But Liberty and other companies having no tax liabilities while posting millions of dollars in profit comes as many Americans who filed their own tax returns have so far not reaped benefits as big as Republicans in Congress and the White House promised when they passed the One Beautiful Bill Act.

Voters are also coping with rising prices for gasoline and other goods because of the White House's war with Iran. The price of a gallon of regular gasoline cost an average of $4.10 on Wednesday, according to AAA, nearly a dollar higher than the price last year.

ITEP says the report shows that the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are reducing the tax burden of big companies with last year’s megabill and the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

“What we’re seeing in this most recent year is corporate tax avoidance on steroids,” said Matt Gardner, an ITEP senior fellow and author of the report. “It’s no secret that large, profitable American corporations have avoided paying full freight for decades, but that trend has been turbocharged by the Trump administration’s 2017 and 2025 corporate tax cuts.”

The Trump administration has touted its efforts to lower federal taxes, and today issued a statement proclaiming that "Americans Are Keeping More of What They Earn." But critics have said both of Trump's major tax packages direct the biggest breaks to large companies and wealthy taxpayers, with fewer benefits for those with lower incomes.

Other energy companies on ITEP's list include natural gas exporter Cheniere Energy, utility Duke Energy, natural gas producer EQT, and oil field services company Halliburton. None responded to requests for comment. Liberty referred questions to the annual report it filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Liberty's total tax bill for 2025 was $47.3 million, but that amount included taxes paid to foreign and state governments, according to the company's annual financial report released Feb. 2. When narrowed down to U.S. federal corporate income taxes, the company wound up receiving $10.3 million back.

What is driving the low tax bills this year, according to critics and supporters alike, is a provision in last year's tax bill allowing companies that make big investments to get a deduction for them all at once in the year they're made, rather than spread out across years.

ITEP calls it "the most extreme version of tax depreciation" and flagged Cheniere and Duke for using depreciation tax breaks to "substantially" reduce their taxes. ITEP said Liberty enjoyed a $58 million tax break from depreciation.

Doug Holtz-Eakin, former chief economist of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush, defended the tax breaks, saying Congress and Trump want to give companies an incentive to invest.

"They're doing exactly what Congress intended," said Holtz-Eakin, now president of the center-right American Action Forum think tank.

If companies deduct the expense of investments in one year, he said, they have to pay in subsequent years. If it's a good investment, he said, "There will be income coming in, and they'll be paying lots of taxes on it."

That view might be too rosy, however, said Caroline Bruckner, a tax professor at American University’s Kogod School of Business.

"That's a really optimistic view of what's going to happen in the economy," said Bruckner, a former top aide to former Sen. Mary Landrieu. Congressional Republicans have said money from tariffs was an important way to make up for lost tax income, despite concerns the tariffs might be struck down in court.

"The idea was you can have all these tax cuts because we have these tariffs," she said, "which is ridiculous."