us firms stash tens of billions in tax havens, government says

[xchrom]

http://www.nationofchange.org/us-firms-stash-tens-billions-tax-havens-government-says-1359733330



Perhaps the most striking part of the new findings is simply the brazenness with which U.S. corporations appear to have become accustomed to misreporting their overseas earnings. To run her analysis, Gravelle chose five relatively small but well-known tax havens – Bermuda, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland – and then looked at the percentage of profits U.S. companies reported as having come from those countries in 2008.

Incredibly, notes Citizens for Tax Justice, an advocacy group here in Washington, these countries were found to have accounted for 43 percent of the 940 billion dollars of overseas profits reported by U.S. multinational corporations, despite having made just seven percent of their foreign investments in those same countries.

On the other hand, the five countries where U.S. corporations do much of their overseas business (the United Kingdom, Germany, etc) were reported to tax authorities as having accounted for just 14 percent of overseas profits.

“Obviously they aren’t making their money in these countries – their economies are nowhere near large enough,” Robert S. McIntyre, the director of Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ), told IPS. He points out, for instance, that U.S. multinationals’ reported profits in Bermuda amounted to 1,000 percent of the island’s economic output.

[JDPriestly]

1. This is one reason for our huge deficits and for our economic crisis.

This is also why some other developed countries are in economic crisis.

France raised its taxes on the rich to a very high percentage. We shall see whether that is a way to respond to this problem.

[libtodeath]

2. Capitalism at its finest yet suggest we need to be socialist and there is a public outcry

[ananda]

3. Corporate fascism at its finest!

Pigs.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. The companies have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to minimize costs

including taxes. They are audited annually and if there were violations of law, it would be addressed.

We need to change the laws to change the behaviors.

[socialist_n_TN]

5. What we need is a socialist revolution.......

But we're obviously not ready for that yet.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. In the interim, would you settle for some tax reform?

I do not expect any kind of revolution, especially from the left. Evolution, but not revolution

[socialist_n_TN]

6. It wouldn't surprise me if these figures were underreported.......

Out of $21t to $34t estimated to be stashed in the world's banks in tax havens, apprx. $1t of it being U.S. corporation's money seems low to me.