This is why I believe little will change in DC

[funeralcrasher]

By no fault of the Prez elect, this shit is just too hard to stop.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress' investigative watchdog, has found that "a majority of America's largest publicly traded companies and the U.S. government's largest federal contractors use multiple subsidiaries in offshore tax havens to conduct business and avoid paying U.S. taxes," writes Carol D. Leonnig for The Washington Post.

The culprits include some corporate giants who are receiving countless millions in bailout money

Full story here: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Offshore_tax_havens_of_US_corporate_0116.html

I'm sure the conservatives and libertarians and fair taxers in the crowd will say there is absolutely nothing wrong with this situation, other than the companies being taxed at all.

Fuckin' joke.

Comments

[johnbutler.livejournal.com]

When corporations pay income taxes, those costs are passed on through the prices of those corporations' products and services. When you buy a loaf of bread, you're paying that bread company's income tax in part of the price. You're also paying the grocery store's income tax and the trucking company's income tax and the gas station's income tax.

By contrast, if the corporations themselves pay NO taxes, then those costs don't get passed along to you.

The idea that corporations are "evil" and need to be taxed is a shell game used to convince gullible people to give the government more of their money. Corporate income taxes are not the corporation's money; they're the corporation's customer's money.

It also reverses "progressive" income taxes: when a low-income customer in the 15% tax bracket buys a product from a corporation in the 28% corporate tax bracket, that customer pays that product's piece of the corporation's taxes at 28% with money that the customer has already had 15% income taken out of. There is no sales tax on food, but there's all kinds of income tax built into it.

Some corporations pay no taxes because they take their profits and reinvest, buying new capital or hiring more workers--things that are not taxable. This is an incentive for corporations to get bigger and bigger. Ever miss a time when a certain company was smaller? The smaller ones treat their customers better. They have a disincentive to stay small, though.

Now that you own a growing business, I suspect you may eventually start to think differently about taxation. And that other great joy of business: litigation.

As for individuals not paying their taxes, start with Obama's new proposed Treasury chief. Democrats are all for raising taxes when the taxes don't apply to them. When the taxes do apply, sometimes they feel exempt from paying them.

[pkbarbiedoll.livejournal.com]

if the corporations themselves pay NO taxes, then those costs don't get passed along to you..

Proof.

When corporations offshored textile mills to China and India, they saved millions in labor and benefit costs. Have those savings been passed on to consumers? Not in any meaningful way. Gap jeans made with .25 cent/hr wages cost $95 dollars. That's pure profit.

If corporations were so altruistic, Nike Airs would cost half of what they do now, thanks to the savings by offshoring manufacturing to Thailand and other third world labor pools.

I have no problem with corporations earning money. But I do not believe in financial anarchy.

I expect to save a little on taxes this year from starting my business. If I buy more equipment this year I will get to write some of that off on my taxes next year. Super. I am a small business, but I still pay taxes on earnings.

That is quite a bit different from large domestic corporations relocating headquarters to a tax shelter to avoid paying any taxes at all. Especially when the same corporation receives federal TARP money from taxpayers. I'm sorry if you find that excusable.

[johnbutler.livejournal.com]

Where did I say corporations are altruistic?! They're not altruistic; they're in it for a profit, as are the humans running them. If they don't make a profit, they have no incentive to continue operations. They would shut down and get into some other business.

If they aren't taxed yet still keep their prices up, customers will go to their competitors who can sell a similar product for less money.

Really, this is Econ 101.

As for offshore labor, offshore headquarters, you have minimum wages and environmental laws and tax laws to thank. You can't tariff your way out of importing from China when you depend on China to buy all your Treasury bills to pay for all the bloated pork that your Democrats vote to spend their deficit on. They've controlled Congress for two years and are back to record deficits.

I don't find the TARP "excusable;" as you know good and well, I am against that bailout, as are most of the Republicans in Congress (aside from a few traitors.) The Democrats you voted for, on the other hand, are all for it; otherwise it would not have passed. News Flash: your people are the majority. You voted for them.