j_b Posted July 20, 2010 Posted July 20, 2010 The Business Case Against Overseas Tax Havens by Chuck Collins Kate’s Café and AAA Appliance probably pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than profitable Fortune 500 companies. In the U.S., thanks in part to overseas tax havens, we have one tax system for multinational companies and wealthy individuals –and another for small businesses and ordinary taxpayers. Tax havens enable the rich and U.S. multinationals to move income and assets between global subsidiaries and dodge taxes. Responsible businesses and individual taxpayers are left to pay for U.S. infrastructure, defense, education and all the public investments that contribute to a healthy business climate and economy. How does this work? A U.S. company creates a subsidiary in a secretive low tax haven such as the Luxemburg, Bermuda or the Republic of Mauritius. In the Grand Cayman Islands, one building called Ugland House, houses over 19,000 of these corporate subsidiaries. These corporations moving assets and income between these subsidiaries so that profits appear to be generated overseas while losses are deducted from U.S. taxes. Because of the lack of transparency it is difficult to assess just how much money is loss, but estimates range from $43 billion to $123 billion per year for both individual and corporate tax avoidance. A new campaign, Business and Investors Against Tax Haven Abuse, signals an interesting convergence of domestic manufacturers, community banks, and small businesses that are fed up with how porous the global corporate tax code has become. They launched a petition drive on July 20th with 400 initial business signers. “Small businesses are the lifeblood of local economies,” said Frank Knapp, President and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce and one of the lead signers. “We pay our fair share of taxes, shop locally, support our schools and actually generate most of the new jobs. So why do we have to subsidize multinationals that use offshore tax havens to avoid paying taxes?” read more: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/20-12 Quote
j_b Posted July 21, 2010 Author Posted July 21, 2010 How does the fact that mega-corps and the ubber rich evade paying taxes at any opportunity they get while they don't invest in the economy fit in with right wing propaganda about how we need to cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy so they invest in our economy? Quote
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