Untaxed U.S. corporate profits held overseas top $2.1 trillion: study

[LogikAndReazon]

Damn, that money really belongs tp the poor, the hungry, the disenfranchised ! Lol

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Milton Freidman in 1980 during his outstanding PBS documentary series "Free to Choose"
Paraphrase - "Governments regulating the markets to enforce fair play and protect the public is a myth, a complete farce. Throughout history when governments get involved in the markets, corruption only increases. It is no different in the United States." (Keep in mind this was 1980) -- If the government continues to manipulate the markets in the Unites States like we are seeing today, the result will be a collusion of the central banks and the U.S. government. They will act as one."

Worth saying again...

Saying what again?

We had a slam-bang Friedman acolyte, Alan Greenspan, as Fed Chief for quite some time. And alot of Friedman style deregulation and tax cutting took place.

How'd that work out?

Additionally Friedman was all for government invention when markets were distressed.

He just had no clue as how to pay for it.

You listen to the garbage about Friedman by the loons.
Friedman was listened to somewhat by Ronald Reagan at the beginning of his Presidency.
He is on record numerous times warning Greenspan about the increasing involvement of government in the housing markets. And the increasing power of the central banks So much so that it wasn't long before he found himself no longer welcome at the White House.
This erroneous tie-in with Friedman is ridiculous. The left loves to paint him in that corner, but he was never there. Reagan and Greenspan consulted him a few times, and AGAIN - it is on record that they did not take his advice.
Greesnpan, Summers, Rubin and Clinton are the four architects of the financial corruption we see today. Period.
The Democrats in the houses built the housing debacle, and the Republicans rode in and joined the fun, and removed regulations and wrote a few to boot. They are both equally to blame.
But blaming Friedman is ludicrous.

 

[natstew]

Why is there an assumption that all profits made by US companies should be filtered thru the coffers of the federal gov't?

Yes, those companies made money. So? Why do some people assume it is either paid to Uncle Sam or they are doing something wrong?

It's government that allows business to flourish.

No government? No capitalism.

Government provides a vast array of services, infrastructure and resources that are mainly funded by the people WORKING for these private corporations.

They get money coming and going.

A little parity is not much to ask.

And it's part of the United States Constitution.

How bout you go study the Constitution before you make a fool of yourself?

I don't know about YOUR Constitution, but the United States Constitution limits the powers of Government to only the powers listed within it.
But, the United States Constitution has been shredded by Government until it's only a shadow of it's self.

 

[natstew]

"No government, no capitalism"
Wow, what a crock of shit.
PEOPLE made this a capitalist society, NOT government.
The Founders feared the power of government.

Capitalism would not exist without a government to protect their interests

Is that what Obama's doing? Coulda fooled me!

 

[Mac1958]

.

It's all about government. A bunch of professional politicians and bureaucrats.

Everything else is secondary, subservient, derivative, beholden.

.

 

[Spoonman]

Just unreal..

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Foreign profits held overseas by U.S. corporations to avoid taxes at home nearly doubled from 2008 to 2013 to top $2.1 trillion, said a private research firm's report, prompting a call for reform by the Senate's top tax law writer.

"The new numbers ... certainly highlight what is one of the key challenges for tax reform. I do think there need to be some reforms in this area," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden told reporters on Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

Under U.S. law, corporations do not have to pay income tax on most of their overseas profits until they are brought into the United States. These earnings can be held offshore for years if they are classified as indefinitely invested abroad.

Research firm Audit Analytics said in a report issued last week that the total of such earnings was up 93 percent from 2008 to 2013, citing federal financial filings for companies listed in the Russell 1000 index of U.S. corporations.

Conglomerate General Electric Co had the biggest pile of earnings stored abroad, at $110 billion, the firm said.

Next were software maker Microsoft Corp, with $76.4 billion; drugmakers Pfizer Inc, with $69 billion, and Merck & Co Inc, with $57.1 billion; and high-tech group Apple Inc, with $54.4 billion, it said.

In response, GE said in a statement: "GE operates in more than 170 countries, and most of these overseas earnings have been reinvested in active business operations like manufacturing facilities and loans to non-U.S. customers."

Microsoft, Merck and Pfizer were not immediately available for comment. Apple did not respond to requests for comment.

BAUCUS AND WYDEN

Congress has quarreled for years over the law that lets multinationals stash profits abroad tax-free. Some favor killing the law - known as offshore corporate income tax deferral - and some back a one-time tax holiday that would let companies bring foreign profits home, or "repatriate" them, at a low tax rate.

Debate over offshore deferral flared again in November when Wyden's predecessor as finance committee chairman, former Democratic Senator Max Baucus, proposed doing both. Baucus resigned weeks later to become U.S. ambassador to China.

Wyden in the past has called for repeal of offshore deferral, along with a repatriation holiday, among other changes to the tax code, which he last month called "a rotten carcass that the special interests feast on."Untaxed U.S. corporate profits held overseas top $2.1 trillion: study

Time to get rid of both.

why hasn't obama done anything about this?

 

[Gadawg73]

Just imagine how many TRILLIONS of dollars from OTHER countries' corporations WOULD BE HELD HERE if the tax rates were low here?
We are a nation of village idiots. High taxes is always bad for the economy.

 

[Gadawg73]

"No government, no capitalism"
Wow, what a crock of shit.
PEOPLE made this a capitalist society, NOT government.
The Founders feared the power of government.

Capitalism would not exist without a government to protect their interests

Government exists for CITIZENS, not the government, to protect the interests of all citizens, not a financial system.
The fruits of your labor are yours, not the property of government.

 

[Gadawg73]

It's government that allows business to flourish.

No government? No capitalism.

Government provides a vast array of services, infrastructure and resources that are mainly funded by the people WORKING for these private corporations.

They get money coming and going.

A little parity is not much to ask.

And it's part of the United States Constitution.

Give it up, you are clueless.
It is BUSINESS and PEOPLE that allows government to "flourish" and squander EARNED resources.
Government earns nothing.

Should be easy for you then...

Name a country..or a state..where first a business was set up..and then out of that grew a government?

Only a dumb ass believes capitalism grew out of the founding of this nation.
Government was formed BECAUSE OF FREE MARKET CAPITALISM when we defeated the British.

 

[Gadawg73]

Why is there an assumption that all profits made by US companies should be filtered thru the coffers of the federal gov't?

Yes, those companies made money. So? Why do some people assume it is either paid to Uncle Sam or they are doing something wrong?

It's government that allows business to flourish.

No government? No capitalism.

Government provides a vast array of services, infrastructure and resources that are mainly funded by the people WORKING for these private corporations.

They get money coming and going.

A little parity is not much to ask.

And it's part of the United States Constitution.

So a company earns the money outside the US. They put it in investments and banks outside the US. And somehow you think the US Gov't has earned a piece of that money??

Hey now, why the hate?
He is an IT guy and "sees" the data everyday.
Who gives a shit about Finance, Econ 101 and common sense?

 

[ClosedCaption]

Simple. Stop being so harsh on profit like you liberals naturally are, and perhaps people won't resort to such underhanded tactics to evade our tax code. It's ironic this spike in overseas profit comes under Obama's term in office. It's quite interesting really.

But I couldn't help but notice something else. You chastise the rich for being rich and greedy, yet demand that the minimum wage be raised again and again, almost endlessly. I call that greed, not benevolence. Profit is attacked, not encouraged. This behavior is the doing of an overbearing liberalized government.

Harsh on profit?

WHAT?

Look around you.

This country has the most billionaires in the world.

And a VERY SMALL percentage of the population, around 1% controls 40% of this country's wealth.

Had it been "harsh" on profit that wouldn't be the case at all.

You're being harsh. Us peons arent allowed to discuss the rich. Doing so is considered being harsh. And they do not like their feelings hurt...they might buy a new yacht to cope with your harsh attitude.

 

[Gadawg73]

Liberals love corporations keeping the cash overseas from overseas profits. That is the only way they can continue to bash them.
If they really wanted that cash to come home they would support lower taxes on consumers as NO corporation ever pays taxes.
Ever.
PEOPLE only pay taxes, all corporations do is collect money from consumers of their goods and services.

 

[WinterBorn]

Liberals love corporations keeping the cash overseas from overseas profits. That is the only way they can continue to bash them.
If they really wanted that cash to come home they would support lower taxes on consumers as NO corporation ever pays taxes.
Ever.
PEOPLE only pay taxes, all corporations do is collect money from consumers of their goods and services.

So few seem to grasp this. When the politicians talk about raising taxes on corporations, they are really telling us that the are raising our taxes, but in a way that we are too stupid to see.

 

[Stephanie]

do liberals have some frikken nerve or what?

they think they should be able to bitch about what others do with their money

they act like it belongs to them and THEY put in the investments, blood, sweat and tears for it

I've never seen anything like this in my life

just TOTAL brainwashing yet they go and vote for some of the richest Democrats in Congress who more than likely does the same thing to avoid paying taxes

Just ask Jon (the gigolo) Heinz-Kerry and the ketchup fortune he married into

this is some sad shit in this day and age and probably NOT ONE has ever started up or owned a business...

 

[Staidhup]

Interesting rant, I have yet to read how the US has a valid claim or right to tax corporate profits earned, post taxes paid in their respective jurisdictions, and held off shore. Apparently when one lives in a country ranked as one of the highest corporate tax rates in the industrialized world, so anti business liberals feel compelled to ascribe to the belief that the US has a right to squat.
Those on the left brought this on themselves and own total responsibility for their actions.

 

[Katzndogz]

As much money being held overseas is, it's not enough. It should be much more. Enough to really get some attention to our unjust tax system.

 

[Stephanie]

who'd want to keep their money in this country under this hostile administration and Democrats regime

bitch to your dear wonderful dictator about it...he's the frikken leader of the whole world isn't he?

 

[Sallow]

who'd want to keep their money in this country under this hostile administration and Democrats regime

bitch to your dear wonderful dictator about it...he's the frikken leader of the whole world isn't he?

There are links in the Step thread.

Seems he isn't the dictator you suppose him to be..

 

[Sallow]

Why is there an assumption that all profits made by US companies should be filtered thru the coffers of the federal gov't?

Yes, those companies made money. So? Why do some people assume it is either paid to Uncle Sam or they are doing something wrong?

It's government that allows business to flourish.

No government? No capitalism.

Government provides a vast array of services, infrastructure and resources that are mainly funded by the people WORKING for these private corporations.

They get money coming and going.

A little parity is not much to ask.

And it's part of the United States Constitution.

How bout you go study the Constitution before you make a fool of yourself?

I don't know about YOUR Constitution, but the United States Constitution limits the powers of Government to only the powers listed within it.
But, the United States Constitution has been shredded by Government until it's only a shadow of it's self.

Um..

Section 8.

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;

To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;

To establish post offices and post roads;

What's yours say?

 

[Sallow]

Give it up, you are clueless.
It is BUSINESS and PEOPLE that allows government to "flourish" and squander EARNED resources.
Government earns nothing.

Should be easy for you then...

Name a country..or a state..where first a business was set up..and then out of that grew a government?

Only a dumb ass believes capitalism grew out of the founding of this nation.
Government was formed BECAUSE OF FREE MARKET CAPITALISM when we defeated the British.

So what you are saying is that a consortium of business set up this country?

Really?

That's your story and you are sticking with it?