• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

500 largest U.S. companies hold $2.1tn offshore. They would owe $620bn in taxes in US

Status
Not open for further replies.
K

Khalifa Jayy

Banned
Expanded title:
The 500 largest American companies hold more than $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits offshore to avoid U.S. taxes and would collectively owe an estimated $620 billion in U.S. taxes if they repatriated the funds

The study, by two left-leaning non-profit groups, found that nearly three-quarters of the firms on the Fortune 500 list of biggest American companies by gross revenue operate tax haven subsidiaries in countries like Bermuda, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

The Center for Tax Justice and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund used the companies' own financial filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission to reach their conclusions.

Technology firm Apple was holding $181.1 billion offshore, more than any other U.S. company, and would owe an estimated $59.2 billion in U.S. taxes if it tried to bring the money back to the United States from its three overseas tax havens, the study said.

The conglomerate General Electric has booked $119 billion offshore in 18 tax havens, software firm Microsoft is holding $108.3 billion in five tax haven subsidiaries and drug company Pfizer is holding $74 billion in 151 subsidiaries, the study said.

"At least 358 companies, nearly 72 percent of the Fortune 500, operate subsidiaries in tax haven jurisdictions as of the end of 2014," the study said. "All told these 358 companies maintain at least 7,622 tax haven subsidiaries."
Click to expand...

Corporate greed has no end, does it?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/06/us-usa-tax-offshore-idUSKCN0S008U20151006
 
G

Goliath

Member
Don't worry, Trump said he would close all the tax loopholes. I have full faith in a free enterprise Private company CEO, when it comes to minimizing free enterprise CEO profits.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
Most of it goes to the military and Medicaid and Medicare anyway.

I'm not saying this is not egregious, but wake me up when our federal spending priorities radically change, especially military spending, which is insane.
 
S

Sami+

Member
entrement said:
Most of it goes to the military and Medicaid and Medicare anyway.

I'm not saying this is not egregious, but wake me up when our federal spending priorities radically change, especially military spending, which is insane.
Click to expand...

All three of those are better than it going into the pockets of billion dollar corporations.
 
Y

Yaphett Kotto

Member
I wonder what things can get done with 620 billion dollars.

I'm not even surprised this is flying under the radar and no one is pushing for a change.
 
K

kitch9

Banned
Unfortunately tax isn't exclusive to America, and American companies have to pay tax in the countries they operate in, not just pay tax in America and no where else.

Same as say UK companies operating in America pay tax in America and not just the UK.

It's not other countries fault that they decide to operate a competitive tax system for their own reasons. Fuck all anyone can do about it unless there's a unilateral world agreement on tax rates, which won't happen because geography will dictate where companies set up shop instead.
 
F

Fenderputty

Banned
kitch9 said:
Unfortunately tax isn't exclusive to America, and American companies have to pay tax in the countries they operate in, not just pay tax in America and no where else.

Same as say UK companies operating in America pay tax in America and not just the UK.

It's not other countries fault that they decide to operate a competitive tax system for their own reasons.
Click to expand...

That's a lot of business in Bermuda :/
 
W

Walpurgis

Banned
It's not like the American government would use that money properly if they got it. How can the richest nation on Earth "not afford" universal health care and free university?
 
Daft Bird

Daft Bird

Member
That 620 billion figure is if the money got taxed at 35%. But the effective corporate tax rate is only something like 12.8% so really the money earned from having the money brought back over would be much lower. Like only 250 billion ish.
 
A

akira28

Member
dave is ok said:
I wish people gave a shit about this so it would ever change.
Click to expand...

they do, but "the people" giving a shit and acting as one won't be a voter/constituency type deal. It feels like people are going to be rioting and burning shit if we keep finding out things like this without any correction.
 
B

Brakke

Banned
Bronx-Man said:
Corporations are people, my friend.
Click to expand...

I mean, like: they aren't. So the reasons this is bad are super complicated. It's not like Fat Cats are using this money to lobby politicians or run up San Fransisco real estate prices or whatever.

What *does* this money get used for? What's the point of accruing it? Only example I remember hearing about this kind of cash getting spent was Microsoft acquiring Nokia.

If this money repatriated, what would it change? The government wouldn't spend it, the Fed is already doing everything in its power to keep inflation low. I suppose these corporations could invest it in expanding activities? But if their managers thought there were good investments they could be making then they *would* be repatriating it anyway.
 
K

kitch9

Banned
Fenderputty said:
That's a lot of business in Bermuda :/
Click to expand...

They are a free country entitled to set up their own tax system unfortunately. They are geographically dis advantaged so they have to provide financial incentives to attract investment.

Companies will pay more tax to be based in the UK for instance as it is the proverbial chronological centre of the world. Even then that is a limited advantage.
 
D

Deleted member 13876

Unconfirmed Member
Daft Bird said:
That 620 billion figure is if the money got taxed at 35%. But the effective corporate tax rate is only something like 12.8% so really the money earned from having the money brought back over would be much lower. Like only 250 billion ish.
Click to expand...

Damn, so only like 500 underwater cities then?
 
K

kitch9

Banned
Daft Bird said:
That 620 billion figure is if the money got taxed at 35%. But the effective corporate tax rate is only something like 12.8% so really the money earned from having the money brought back over would be much lower. Like only 250 billion ish.
Click to expand...
They've already been taxed on the money elsewhere hence it stays where it is
 
G

genjiZERO

Member
I don't get why they just don't bring that money back. It's not like we wouldn't give it to them as subsidies anyway.
 
B

Brakke

Banned
Yaphett Kotto said:
I wonder what things can get done with 620 billion dollars.

I'm not even surprised this is flying under the radar and no one is pushing for a change.
Click to expand...

This matters but not on a dollar-for-dollar basis. The American government has been running a deficit for how many years now? It has the largest debt than any other nation by how many orders of magnitude? Government spending is a function of revenue but it's certainly not determined by it.

United States government finance doesn't work like personal finance -- and it doesn't really work like other nations' finances either. That World Reserve Currency thing we got going is a Big Deal.
 
H

HariKari

Member
kitch9 said:
They've already been taxed on the money elsewhere hence it stays where it is
Click to expand...

They enjoy a number of benefits afforded to them by operating in the U.S., mainly the court system. You can't use all the benefits of being in the United States, sell a product overseas, and then claim the US benefits had no part in your ability to do that.
 
Vigilant Walrus

Vigilant Walrus

Member
Walpurgis said:
It's not like the American government would use that money properly if they got it. How can the richest nation on Earth "not afford" universal health care and free university?
Click to expand...

600 billion dollar yearly Defense Budget baby. Don't worry - Everybody is born with bootstraps and if they work hard they will get to the top. It's how the fathers of America did it. can't unexplain that. mooching socialists want to turn the country into Russia because they are lazy and dont want to put in effort.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Discord is laying off 17% of employees | In an internal memo, CEO Jason Citron said the company grew headcount too quickly over the past few years
News
1
597
Cyberpunkd replied
Bloomberg: Microsoft Buying Nintendo Would Have Been a Disaster
Analysis Hardware Platform 2 3
131
8K
Unknown? replied
U.S. FTC sues to block Nvidia deal to buy Arm
Business Hardware
35
3K
Notabueno replied
  • Locked
[MarketWatch] Microsoft faces battle for Activision deal, especially if ‘Call of Duty’ is destined for Xbox exclusivity
2 3 4 5
219
28K
Bo_Hazem replied
'I felt betrayed': Gaming companies unsure of future in Alberta after tax credit axed
Game Dev
9
1K
wordslaughter replied
Top Bottom