Comments on: A look at the world's new corporate tax havens
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- All things in life should be broken down to there simplist form to be understood therfore ;
If a company was born in the USA
If a company Now has the right to endorse political campaigns
If unlike humans a company cant die but only transfer it being
its assets to another form it unlike humans cant die,only can be killed by this transfer of created assets .
If humans managing this company choose to transfer ,kill this USA BORN CREATED BEING unlike humans the company can be it its whole resurected by OUR COURT the same court that gave it the right to influence our politics as and to a human it follows that prior to the reverse accounting discovery of these USA born companys who fed off of the milk of the USA to they and thier employees used the infastructure human and material to grow and become as they were at the time of thier departure.
We the people who supported and raised them by being thier customers,employees we paid with our tax dollars to buld the roads ,the ports the airfacilities we even kept them safe though our laws our influence they belong indefinatly to themselves and are should be held always to be financially taxable to the USA.
THE OPPORTUNITY COST THAT COMPANYS DID NOT HAVE TO PAY IS THE OBLIGATION IN PRESENT AND FUTURE VALUE OF WEALTH BULDING
IT IS CALLED TAXES DUE TO THE U.S.A.
That is logical should be proven legally how can you separate the present and future value ,a commom financial principle from an being , a company is not like a human it's essence cant be destroyed only dispersed into other forms a form of murder of which the penalty should be perpetual bondage to it 's creator . THE USA. HAH HAH WE WIN ! - Reply to this comment
- I believe they is only one way to fix this mess with confusing tax code, people not paying their fair share and business tax. Did you know that 45% of people in this country don't pay taxes because of loop holes and tax breaks for certain people. By going to the Fair Tax System it would put an end to this.
We just had a big battle in Congress over healthcare, and we were reminded every day by the newscasters that the bill was over 2000 pages long. If it was such a big deal about the healthcare bill being over 2000 pages long, then why aren't they screaming about our tax code, over 60,000 pages long and so confusing that the people who are in charge of it at the "IRS" admit that they don't even understand it, and to make matters worse, if you call the IRS tax help line and ask for professional advice, and they give you the wrong information, which happens a lot, it's you NOT the IRS, who will have to pay any penalties. By going to the Fair Tax system we would get rid of the IRS all together.
Because of our current tax code we've had thousands of businesses have relocated to other countries. Under the Fair Tax System not only these business but many foreign businesses would relocate here because of the friendly tax system we would have for them. We would see an economical boom here that we haven't seen in over a hundred years.
There is 60 to 90 billion dollars that moves in the under world every year that isn't taxed. There are billions more that are paid under the table to illegals every year that isn't taxed. Under the Fair Tax system that money would be taxed.
Under the Fair Tax system, if you win a million dollar lottery jackpot you get to keep the whole million dollars. You do not have to give half or more to the IRS. If you have a rich aunt die and leave you a million dollar estate you get to keep all of it. You do not have to give half or more to the IRS. Look at how much they take out of your pay check each month for Federal tax, under the Fair Tax system you get to keep that money.
Get Government out of our private lives. Shrink Government. No more dreaded April 15th tax day. A tax system so simple an 8th grader can understand it and on top of that, a tax system that is fair for everyone. If you haven't read the book then please do so. You can pick up a copy on Amazon or on eBay. - Reply to this comment
- While all of the arguements seem persuasive I have to ask the question: Do you feel that business write-offs are inequitable and should be done away with? Because that in essence, is what these tax breaks you decry actually are: writeoffs. That is, no matter what the size of your business in America if you improve your business, or have business expenses you are entitled to some income tax benefit from those expenditures you make. The tax laws giving corporations and people who own small or large businesses tax breaks were designed to stimulate business and encouragage re investment in the infrastructure of the business (es). Why you ask? Remember we are a capitalistic society whose personal and political freedom is derived from the very wealth capitalism has provided for us. Imagine if you will where we would be if there were no incentives for business ( of all sizes -- from a single rental property owner to GE) to re invest in the business? Let's use the example of a rental house. Assume for a moment that improvements to a rental house were not tax write offs. Do you think for one moment that our landlords would be interested in improving our rental dwellings? Of course not! Concomittantly, do you think you would have the jobs you do have, the benefits you do have, the consumer goods you do have, the drugs when ill you do have, the medical equipment you do have, the airline services you do have, the food you do have, the libraries at colleges you sit in, the bridges you drive over to get home and to work, the public defenders you have, if there were not monetary benefits, i.e. tax breaks for re investments in businesses? Of course not.
I find it somewhat child like that we have so much vocal anger directed at businesses and their tax breaks. Do we realy expect business to be there for us ( look back at the list above-- come on --- who wants to give up one of those items) if the businesses can't make money? How naive !!! Where is the money going to come from to run businesses? Socialism does not work ! Hello -- have you read your history books? Socialism snuffs out individual incentive and stifles economic growth and ---hello ---socialism also makes things scarce and very expensive !! Take a look around the world. Some of the solutions I am hearing seem to subscribe to the notion that socialism will fix everything. Nope. Meanwhile we have created a hostile fiscal environment for big busineess in the US so what is big business doing? They are going abroad with their ideas, technology, office buildings, manufacturing plants and JOBS so they can make more money to run their business. Did I hear that Cisco employs 11K people in Ireland? Too bad those 11K jobs are not here. Recall also that public companies have a duty to make money for their share holders, -- share holders who have given their money when buying shares of the company so that the company has money to further expand. You want to fault a CEO for trying to make money for his comapany??? --- Remember: no man is an island-- you cannot exist without big business and big business cannot exist without you. If you get punitative and kill the gooses that laid the golden egg ( big business) how and on what will you survive?? Punishing big business is not the answer. The real problem is that we have allowed our government (s) to spend more $ than they could ever possibly take in in tax revenues. On top of that we entered a terrible recession with more people out of work and less "income" tax available to the government (s). We have created a mess in 2 ways: 1) we have not taught Americans how a capitalist society works and 2) We have allowed our government(s) to over spend. THAT IS THE REAL PROBLEM. PS: does anyone remember the most basic concept of Econ 1A? ---- YOU DON'T RAISE TAXES IN A RECESSION. If you do not understand why start teaching yourself. This is still the one nation in the world with the best hope for personal freedom. We continue to grant and protect constitutional freedoms to all Americans no matter their race, religion,or sexual persuasion. We are stonger for each and every constitutional civil right we insure and re-define. And remember--- this country still offers the best hope for personal wealth if someone has the guts to work hard, can hold onto their money, and educate themselves in a field that is in demand. By the way if you are good at math consider being a problem solver for your Country -- become an engineer--- you will have a job in this century ! Go for it! - Reply to this comment
- Sorry for the typo above. Corrected below.
Amen! Arguing 35% tax rate is an old corporate false argument. 'Effective' tax rates are something they do NOT like to talk about. What do BOA, Exxon Mobile, Chevron, Boing, GE, Valero Energy? They all received tax REBATES for 2009! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sknt-UBRhxo
Here is the list from Sander's floor speech.
1. Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009. Exxon not only paid no federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to its SEC filings.
2. Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.
3. Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS.
4. Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year after it made $10 billion in profits in 2009.
5. Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year.
6. Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction.
7. Goldman Sachs in 2008 only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.
8. Citigroup last year made more than $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes. It received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury.
9. ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the United States, made $16 billion in profits from 2007 through 2009, but received $451 million in tax breaks through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction.
10. Over the past five years, Carnival Cruise Lines made more than $11 billion in profits, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent. - Reply to this comment
- It's supposed to happen thru our representatives, but corporate lobbyists are heard more than we are. Washington is a place where money, favors, and who you know rules. Trying to break that up is probably next to impossible. I see it in our own local government, and we're just a small town of about 3200.
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- I understand and have read all the comments each having great solutions
but how do we really fix it instead of just expressing the idea's? How
do we as American's get our voices heard and make the changes before it's too late? - Reply to this comment
- Leslie Stahl's piece was just a puff shill piece for GE and the large corporate world (that she works for). She swallowed everything the execs said about the 35% tax rate being so high and tried to help convince all of us watching that it was too high, too. Wah, wah, wah. If the tax rate is sooo high, then why did GE (still) manage to not pay any tax and even get a $3 billon IRS refund to boot? When Eisenhower was President the corporate tax rate was 91% and was still at 72% when Nixon was in office. They knew the tax rate needed to be high to force corporations to pay something because they would get it down to 35% with all their loopholes and lawyers, and that was considered their fair share. But now, they start out at 35% and go down to nothing! And that my friends, is why the middle class pays so much more tax today. Because we (the middle class) are fools to vote for people who let the corporations make billons in profit off our backs and then make us pay the tax bill for the corporations and ourselves while they ship American jobs overseas. Oh yeah, they're job creators alright - overseas!
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- To me, this is a lose-lose situation. What is the largest market for these products? The United States. Which country has the largest defense that harbors these companies? The United States. Which country has natural barriers to the east and west and sports one very stable country to the north? The United States. What country is bleeding for dollars because of an inept gov't and stretched military? The United States. What country has a corroding public school system and infrastructure? The United States. What country is among the most indebted in the world? The United States. What host country has some of the richest corporations and highly paid individuals in the world? The United States.
Is it expensive to do business here? Yes. It's also the biggest market and one of the most stable countries in the world. That's the trade-off.
Germany is doing things right. They turned themselves around and keep their people busy and fairly paid.
If "American" companies wish to keep their markets, they'd best be a partner with their host country, otherwise they'll be a distant memory. - Reply to this comment
- Why are the owners of these corporations that are BLACKMAILING our government not considered "un-patriotic"? Why shouldn't they have to pay taxes on that money? What is wrong with us that greed has replaced patriotism as a desirable trait?
Why should we hand over our precious money to these companies and then ALLOW them (almost beg them) to NOT pay taxes on that money. The whole idea of stimulus is that the money continues to circulate in our OWN economy. They are siphoning our future! They are draft dodgers of a different sort and should be treated as traitors...not our saviors.
Like others have pointed out they will not be happy until they pay nothing in taxes but our "free economy" lets them charge us whatever they want to us as consumers. It appears that the economy is only free to those that can handily afford it.
Americans need to quit worshiping corporations as our only hope and call money hording what it is, putting money before country. They are traitors as much as men who would sell our national secrets for money. They are hording America's resources, our jobs and our money.
If they want the privilege of being Americans then they should have to love America enough to give back.
D. - Reply to this comment
- So are there overseas tax havens for individuals? I'd sure like to know how to hide my assets to avoid paying too much taxes!
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