tax

Offshore Corporate Tax Havens Shift Burden to Individual Tax Payers

“…tax haven abusers force other Americans to shoulder their tax taxburden.”

U.S. PIRG, an organization I don’t generally have much in common with, published an interesting and informative report on offshore corporate tax havens. While I don’t necessarily agree with the causes of the problem the author suggests, I agree with the effects.

From U.S. PIRG:

“Many large U.S.-based multinational corporations avoid paying U.S. taxes by using accounting tricks to make profits made in America appear to be generated in offshore tax havens—countries with minimal or no taxes. By booking profits to subsidiaries registered in tax havens, multinational corporations are able to avoid an estimated $90 billion in federal income taxes each year. These subsidiaries are often shell companies with few, if any employees, and which engage in little to no real business activity.

Loopholes in the tax code make it legal to book profits offshore, but tax haven abusers force other Americans to shoulder their tax burden. Every dollar in taxes that corporations avoid by using tax havens must be balanced by other
Americans paying higher taxes, coping with cuts to government programs, or increasing the federal debt”

 

Dr. Holly A. Bell is an Associate Professor teaching business and economics in the University of Alaska system in the Mat-Su Valley of Alaska. You can visit her website at www.professorhollybell.com or follow her on Twitter at @HollyBell8

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Tax image courtesy of Stuart Miles

2 thoughts on “Offshore Corporate Tax Havens Shift Burden to Individual Tax Payers”

  1. Some Americans helped finance both sides of WWII, and by American business ethic, and especially by the new American Corpocracies ethic / moral codes, this is laudible. In the feigned China / U.S. “conflicts” to come, both sides have a ore-agreement concerning costs. profits and with due respect to U.S. Super Debt to China, both will share in the spoils? Cannon fodder, worthless eaters abound on both sides, so expect blood baths, high body counts, high drama as both Financial houses churn their currencies, their economies. Maps of Afghanistan reveal China mining the copper liberated by war there, even looking to pipe gas, oil over now “disputed territories” there and even a “U.S. Withdrawal” so convenient as to appear to have been requested by China? Are there investors living in the “world” not in China or U.S. with fortunes growing now, at the expense of all mankind, not just the U.S. peon? Does China play the game as groups of individual Uber Rich? or as a nation, communist in nature out for the benefit of the common folk there? Do we all play “against” the multi-national plutocrats? After all, “off shore” is not exact terminology.

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  2. Professor Gilbert Morris

    Let’s take the $90 billion dollar number: Cayman manages nearly $2 trillion dollars; The Bahamas just over one half trillion, Bermuda, about the same. In the case of the Bahamas – for instance – 80% of those funds are invested in the US. Let’s assume that 100% those Bahamas registered funds are American account holders: the issue affecting the US economy is not that they may not pay taxes on profits, it is that they have invested in the US at all. If they did not use the structures they employ, they may not have invested. Their investments finances companies, debts, deficits, credit card debts, student loans, etc.. Tax evasion is unlawful and should be punished. However, the evangelical fevour of those point-fingers is intellectually blind if not also dishonest.

    $90 billion is nothing compared to the net present value of the investments being made in the US, which supports jobs and innovation. A more comprehensive conversation is necessary.

    Professor Gilbert NMO Morris

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