Pretax earnings is a company's income after all operating expenses, including interest and depreciation, have been deducted from total sales or revenues, but before income taxes have been subtracted. Because pretax earnings exclude taxes, this measure enables the intrinsic profitability of companies to be compared across industries or geographic regions where corporate taxes differ. For instance, while U.S.-based corporations face the same tax rates at the federal level, they face different tax rates at the state level.