Obama and Geithner just pissed off a lot of rich people. Going after

[babylonsister]

people and companies who plop their money in tax havens. WooT!

Live on m$nbc now.

The prez just called it a tax scam, which it is. Ha! Take that!

"One of our biggest tax loopholes"

If financial institutions won't cooperate, we'll assume they're doing something illegal and will act accordingly.

Save $210B!

Making good on yet another campaign promise: "Beginning to restore fairness and balance to our tax code."

YAY!

[Clio the Leo]

1. let the right wing whining start in three ... two ..... .one .....

Oh the joys of the conservative chorus comprised of working class idiots who are convinced the President is taking their money. lol

[babylonsister]

4. Hahaha! They won't know what to think. Can't wait to hear

LimbaughHannityBeck's reaction. This probably applies to them.

[Clio the Leo]

10. True. Did you hear the guy at the GOP pizza party....

... tell Jeb Bush, Cantor and Mittens that Rush was the only one in the party making any sense?

They just sat there with their jaws hanging open.

[babylonsister]

13. Their base, dumber than a box of rocks.

I am just surprised they were surprised.

[tridim]

2. I've been waiting for this my entire life.

Get those fuckers Obama!

[babylonsister]

3. Isn't this grand?! There's a lot of money to be had by going after

people who use tax havens. He said he'd do it, and now they are! :fistbump:

[gblady]

5. this is the change I voted for.....

but just a note of clarity....
I believe he said the 210 B saved would be over ten years.
GOBAMA!

[babylonsister]

6. Me, too. And I'll edit the OP, thanks. GOBAMA! nt

[liberal N proud]

7. About time this loophole gets clamped down

[Jennicut]

8. Good! 210 billion, I like the sound of that.

[Orsino]

9. Awesome.

These aren't mere torturers; these people are criminals.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

11. I have read articles in the past that said very little tax auditing of the wealthy goes on currently

and that you had a far better chance of being audited it you made 50K or below - definitely NOT the part of the population evading mega thousands in tax shelters and offshore accounts.

[DrToast]

12. Heh. Stock market up 2%. Business must like the plan!

I don't believe that, but I wonder if that's how Larry Kudlow will interpret things. Probably not.

[monmouth]

14. When you start adding up all of these goodies that are going to come

to fruition, seems it will contribute heavily to down the size of the debt that's being incurred right now. This is soooo great..

[spanone]

15. i already heard them whining that this is a tax increase.....that's how they are gonna frame it

poor corporations were so coddled by the bu$h*/cheney criminal enterprise, they don't know how to act under real leadership.

[babylonsister]

16. A tax increase? You've got to be kidding me. They have been

skirting paying any taxes for years! The companies and people involved don't have a leg to stand on, and good luck to any rethug who wants to frame it that way.

[harun]

17. LOL

[ejpoeta]

34. if I hid money from the IRS... they'd be down my throat faster than you could

blink. and i would be a tax cheat. but these guys.... grrr!!! thank god obama is at least trying. it's more than our 'representatives' are doing.

[NYC_SKP]

18. "Meet The New Boss"

Really, meet the New Boss!

:P

I spit on the replies I've read in 2009 that use the old "meet the new boss same as the old boss" meme.

Fuck them.

Meet the New Boss!

:patriot:

[Triana]

38. we ain't in Kansas anymore... woohoo!

I just hope he can take the intense heat we KNOW he'll get from the whiny corprats over this. Many of them STILL OWN Congress....

[TheWraith]

39. Amen!

Some people don't know a good thing when it drops in on Marine One. :D

[Cha]

57. I spit

with you:P

[NYC_SKP]

66. lol.

Seriously!

:toast:

[BlooInBloo]

61. +1

[yodermon]

68. on this, sure.

spit away.

[AtomicKitten]

19. Pres Obama campaigned on this.

And it is a sweet reckoning indeed!

:bounce:

[SpartanDem]

20. The real question is whether it can get through Congress

and given what happened with the cramdown bill I wonder if their is enough spine to pass this

[csziggy]

24. Does this have to go through Congress? They will be enforcing current regulations

Not creating new ones. At least that was my impression.

[SpartanDem]

33. Yes you can't change

how companies report, deduct etc income without changing tax laws. Yeah, some things can be done through better enforcement, but not all.

[yodoobo]

51. Yes. Current regulations and laws allow this

100% legal in fact.

Many companies that sell products overseas, do not bring the money back in the United States because it would then be taxed. So they keep foreign profits in foreign banks.

Cisco Systems does this to the tune of billions. In fact a few years ago they borrowed money to purchase Scientific Atlanta rather than use their cash, because it was cheaper to borrow money than to bring the money home and pay tax on it.

In any event, because it would be a change in tax laws, Congress would be involved.

[csziggy]

60. OK, then we all need to let our Congress Critters know to support this!

[pscot]

37. That's the 210 billion dollar question

The Prez is going to have to roll the senate blue dogs to get this into law.

[lavndrblue]

21. The biggest part to this is stopping

the tax breaks for sending jobs offshore.

Thank you Mr. President!!

:kick:

[babylonsister]

22. Link: Obama Announces Plan To Crack Down On Tax Havens

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/04/obama-cracks-down-on-tax_n_195523.html


Obama Cracking Down On Tax Havens

PHILIP ELLIOTT | May 4, 2009 12:52 PM EST | AP



WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama vowed to "detect and pursue" American tax evaders Monday as he announced a plan to close tax loopholes and clamp down on overseas shelters.

The president said he wants to prevent U.S. companies from deferring tax payments by keeping profits in foreign countries rather than recording them at home. He also called for more transparency in bank accounts held by Americans in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands.

"If financial institutions won't cooperate with us, we will assume that they are sheltering money in tax havens and act accordingly," Obama said.

The president, who hammered on this issue during his long campaign for the White House, said at a White House event that his plan would generate $210 billion in new taxes over 10 years and "make it easier" for companies to create jobs at home. Over a decade, $210 billion would make a modest dent in a federal deficit expected to swell to $1.2 trillion in 2010.

Under the plan, companies would not be able to write off domestic expenses for generating profits abroad. The goal is to reduce the incentive for U.S. companies to base all or part of their operations in other countries.

The current law, Obama said, "says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo, New York. "

He said the government also is hiring nearly 800 new IRS agents to enforce the U.S. tax code.

Congress is expected to resist significant portions of Obama's plan.

[salguine]

23. Not to be a wet blanket, but I'll believe this when it actually happens. We all know

who really owns the government.

[leftstreet]

29. $210B over 10 years vs $7+Trillion handout to banksters

Do the math.

It'll happen because it's not that big of a deal.

[Zynx]

30. Where's the $7 trillion of Treasury "handouts"?

TARP funds are mostly, with the exception of funds used for AIG, legally binding stakes that we will largely recover or at the very least we will get large dividend payments in the meantime.

[leftstreet]

31. When do those 'large dividend payments' start?

:shrug:

Although you're right, AIG = Black Hole.

[salguine]

44. The problem with arrangements like this, "legally binding stakes", is that in many,

if not most, cases, the assisted party really isn't bound by any kind of deal, because they welch out on their end of the bargain, and nobody bothers to call them on it. We The People get screwed yet again.

[pleah]

25. K&R

[bdamomma]

26. watch all those companies in the Cayman Islands go crazy.

too bad.

[EffieBlack]

27. It is absolutely amazing how they have managed to convince people w/o a pot to piss in

that it is in their best interest to fight for the right of the wealthy to keep as much money as they can hang onto.

Incredible.

[ejpoeta]

35. that's why they don't want education. people with an education know

better and can understand perfectly well what they are trying to do. uneducated folks who are raised to blindly believe what they are told and not ask questions (and i don't mean all religious folks are like that)but the ones that are are just the suckers these jerks need. it amazes me too, but some people just don't know any better.

[Cha]

58. Precisely.. and President

Obama does!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

62. Indeed! This is so exciting!!

:bounce:

[Number23]

67. Yep. People who can't pay their damn bills are terrified of creeping "socialism"

The ones who should ever truly fear socialism are the wealthy. The fact that so many part-time security guards at Wal-Mart were so afraid speaks to the amount of ignorance in this country.

[islandgirl808]

28. oh noes

what are rich people going to do????

:yoiks:

:sarcasm:

[joeglow3]

32. It is NOT tax havens

Here is my post on LBN:

A few months ago, our VP asked me to look at the impact a number of the proposed tax changes would have (I work in the tax department). Since I do not work on international taxes (I do primarily Federal), I went to the international group to talk to them. For those who do not know, the provision Obama is talking about is the deferral of taxes on un-patriated income. Here is a quick summary of how it works:

If I manufacture a good in the US and sell it to China, I will most likely have a Chinese company set up that will be able to employ salespeople in China, familiar to their customs. I have to do what is called a transfer pricing study that is an outside study showing what I would have to sell this product for if my sub. In China were not related to me. This then tells me the revenue that the US company must recognize. The Chinese company then sells the product in China and the remaining revenue is taxed in China. The US company does not pay any taxes on the Chinese company’s profits until the money is sent back to the US. Thus, if the money is reinvested in the Chinese company, a company is able defer paying US taxes until said time it is sent back to the US
They raised a couple interesting points:
1. Is this the reason companies are shipping jobs overseas? Most likely it is due to rock bottom wages and absolutely NO environmental laws.
2. Most all other countries in the world have the same provision in their tax codes. Thus, there would be the risk that in the long term, companies would begin to move their headquarters overseas.
The belief of many international experts (per one person I was talking to) was that Obama would decrease the corporate tax rate as an offset to this. This would allow the companies to be in essentially the same competitive position they are currently in as it relates to the global market.

Thus, those companies with a higher percentage of their income coming from overseas would see their taxes go up, while those that do the majority of the business in US would see theirs go down.

Anyway, this is my 2 cents that I have learned about this.

[babylonsister]

36. Obama Calls for New Curbs on Offshore Tax Havens

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/business/05tax.html?ref=global-home

snip//

One key proposed change would restrict companies from deferring the payment of taxes on profits earned overseas. Administration officials said the plan would keep businesses from taking deductions against their taxes by inflating the amount of foreign taxes they paid.

Mr. Obama raised the idea frequently during his presidential campaign. In his remarks to Congress in February, as he outlined his priorities for the year, he pledged to make the tax code more equitable by “finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.”

The White House said that Mr. Obama is seeking to crack down on overseas tax havens in an attempt to “close the international tax gap.”

more...

[joeglow3]

43. I believe that is a different issue

There is clearly an issue with companies setting up "fake" companies that may hold trademarks, etc. in havens like Bermuda. Specifcally, setting up an address and claiming these companies hold a bunch of intangibles.

That said, in my work as a tax CPA, I have seen a lot of companies that don't employ strategies like this and are geniunely interested in just entering new foreign markets. I agree that something needs to be done, but hope we don't just make sweeping changes that negatively honest companies.

[babylonsister]

46. No, this is what the president was talking about this morning. nt

[joeglow3]

53. No, you are wrong.

Believe me. I am a tax CPA and work in a corporate tax department. I have seen releases from BNA, RIA, CCH, D&T, E&Y and KPMG. All say the same thing and it is EXACTLY as I said.

[TheWraith]

40. Dear tax frauds: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

That is all.

[NYC_SKP]

41. Filing this under: "Things that wouldn't happen if Obama had not won."

The Democratic candidacy.

:hide:

[KathieG]

42. Woohoo!

:woohoo:

[lunatica]

45. Well, well, well. Actually curing the desease instead of

just treating the symptoms with a stupid band-aid. I'm agog. What next?!

[jimmybama]

47. Duh!

These people knew this was coming and yet they let him get
elected anyway. Boo Hoo Hoo. Good for the pres. Sinch the
loophole.

[babylonsister]

48. 'they let him get elected anyway?' What does that mean? nt

[firedupdem]

49. let him? splain please n/t

[jimmybama]

50. What I mean.

As in elections the power has always thrown something out
usually late in the election season that sheds a dim light on
the Democratic candidate. ie, Kerry, Dukakis. It has always
been the job of the MSM to do this. And based on O's campaign
he said he was going to do this(Off shore tax loophole).  I
think that had Big Biz worked harder they would have
succeeded. I' am glad they didn't this time. We need more than
the 12 of the last 40 years in power. I hope that clears up my
statement. 

[moondust]

52. That's $210 billion over 10 years.

Still good news.

[RoadRage]

54. Well.. this is EXACTLY the kind of crap that happens when you get rid of LOBBIESTS..

Now there is no one around to pay off the president and throw in favors to keep the corporate wing all fat & happy.

BOO HOO!!!!!! :) Awesome..

I was optimistic that Obama would do 1/2 of what he campaigned on. I didn't ever even harbor a thought that he'd try to get all 1/2 of it done in his first 110 days.

[Vinca]

55. Or, as the Republicans would say,

THE LARGEST TAX INCREASE IN HISTORY!!!!!!!! AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!! Stopping tax evasion is actually a tax hike!

[Cha]

56. Yeah, baby~

Prez O is all about saving us Mon-EY!:fistbump:B-)

[Grinchie]

59. Portrait of a Teabagger

[Vidar]

63. It's a start.

[Fire1]

64. And a damned good one! Now if Franken ever gets seated

more legislation will pass and sooner rather than later.

[Grateful for Hope]

65. It really is about time

Even though we all know that any bill that is passed in this matter will be watered down, it is a great beginning.

We couldn't have elected a better person, IMO.