Many U.S. companies regularly -- and legally -- minimize their income taxes. In 2001, eight of the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, among them General Electric Co. and Microsoft Corp., paid taxes amounting to less than 20 percent of their operating profit, according to Bloomberg data. The top 2001 tax rate for individuals was 39.1 percent.
`Companies use a variety of methods to reduce taxes, ranging from credits for research to breaks on employee stock options.
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