It's different when they're deliberately shifting operations and liquid assets to offshore countries (tax havens) where they're exempted from being taxed or are taxed at a very low rate. (According to estimates by the Treasury) The federal government is missing out on $100,000,000,000 in taxes yearly due to the big corporations using "legal" loopholes to avoid paying their dues to the nation. A significant number of financial institutions that were part of the recent government funded bailout, have taken part in the scheme to "cheat" the US government of their tax revenue.
For example:
• Goldman Sachs, which reported more than $2 billion in profit in 2008, was able to use its 29 tax haven subsidiaries to reduce its federal tax bill to just $14 million. That means that Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who made $42.9 million that year, earned more than three times the amount that the company paid in federal taxes.
Citigroup took full advantage of U.S. markets and infrastructure until its business model failed and it became one of the banks most responsible for the 2008 economic collapse. During the recession, Citigroup managed to survive, thanks to a $45 billion bailout from federal taxpayers, despite the fact that the company has 427 subsidiaries located in tax havens—more than any other company in America, according to a 2008 report by the Government Accountability Office—and thus has avoided paying many federal taxes.
Source:
http://publicintelligence.net/...ns-to-avoid-paying-taxes/
Of the 100 largest public companies, 83 do business in tax-haven hotspots like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands, where they can move their income into tax-free accounts.
Source:
http://www.cbsnews.com/...ingnews/main4822689.shtml
According to an AIG rep:
"We do business around the globe," AIG spokesman Nick Ashooh said. "It's absurd that we're being accused of using these as tax havens. Now what the net tax impact is, that's extremely complicated."
That's a nice way of putting the spin on things. It still doesn't change the fact that US companies that make BILLIONS in profit, pay barely anything in taxes (compared to the profits they make). Even though it's "legal", it still doesn't change the fact that they're using the system to get out of paying the American people the money they're owed.
The current system for taxing foreign source income of U.S. corporations makes no sense. In theory, income earned by controlled foreign subsidiaries of American companies is taxed at the U.S. corporate rate of 35 percent; in practice, the Treasury receives no taxes on that income as long as it is held overseas.
Source:
http://www.bloomberg.com/...tary-by-robert-pozen.html
In short, it's bullfluff that the most powerful and wealthiest segment of society (the big corporations) get to skimp out on paying their taxes when they owe their existence and continued business to the US. At a time when the US is at its lowest and is trying to reduce its deficit, the big corporations should be doing their part to help reduce the financial burden.
Corporate Loopholes "You got large, extremely profitable corporations who either pay nothing in taxes or get a rebate from the IRS. Maybe, just maybe, when we talk about deficit reduction, we might want to ask those people to help us," Sanders said on MSNBC.
Source:
http://sanders.senate.gov/
^ That's the guy who got the Federal Reserve to divulge the details of the secret multi-trillion dollar "private bailouts" in the form of loans for an international cartel of banks at an extremely low interest rate WITHOUT congressional approval.
