That's a very good point. Once again the "headline" about a "huge tax return" distracts information away from the real problem, which is that US nominal corporate rates are too high and the effective rates are too low.
The real problem is not necessarily all the work that goes into filing the tax return, but rather the influence peddling that leads to policies that misallocate* scarce resources to politically favorable projects.
*this is just my bias, but I am willing to bet it's the consensus among economists that firms allocate private resources more effectively than politicians when those politicians are largely influenced by the firms themselves.
The capital allocation is smart for an individual company given the political environment, but the political environment is silly. The current system of politics and influence is likely a Nash equilibrium. In the current environment no one has anything to gain by unilaterally changing their strategy, and thus hiring lobbying firms is a good allocation of capital.
The real problem is not necessarily all the work that goes into filing the tax return, but rather the influence peddling that leads to policies that misallocate* scarce resources to politically favorable projects.
*this is just my bias, but I am willing to bet it's the consensus among economists that firms allocate private resources more effectively than politicians when those politicians are largely influenced by the firms themselves.