Battle Lines Being Drawn As Obama Plans To Curb Tax Avoidance 1505
theodp writes "Barack Obama has squared up for a major battle with big business, announcing a crackdown on offshore tax avoidance and evasion by US multinationals that's designed to raise $210B and make it easier for companies to create 'good jobs here at home'. Obama cited a building in the Cayman Islands where more than 18,000 US companies are housed: 'Either this is the biggest building in the world or it is the biggest tax scam in the world,' he said. 'I think the American people know which it is.' The administration says that more than a third of US foreign profits in 2003 came from Bermuda, the Netherlands and Ireland, and noted US companies paid an effective tax rate of just 2.3% on the $700bn they earned in foreign profits in 2004. Among tech companies affected by the crackdown, Microsoft joined 200 companies who signed a letter complaining that the proposed tax changes would put them at a disadvantage with their rivals, Cisco moaned that the measures 'would adversely impact our ability to invest and grow our business in the US,' and Google declined to comment for the time being."
Not a tax scam (Score:5, Funny)
Its a building of holding... Duh.
Avoision. (Score:3, Funny)
oh no (Score:5, Funny)
Not my free market! Take your hands off my free market Nobama!
Oops we're bankrupt, give us money Mr. President :(
Re:Not a tax scam (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Am I cynical? (Score:5, Funny)
Nope, they're going to pick up paper routes to make up for the difference.
Re:Not a tax scam (Score:5, Funny)
Whoa!! I just figured out why we don't have bags of holding.
Because we are all trapped in one!!!
AHhhhhhhhh.....
Re:two ways to solve the tax "scam" (Score:5, Funny)
By not pissing away money on other things.
That's right -- eternal war should be America's first priority! Show me a legitimate "other thing" and I'll show you a traitor to the homeland.
Re:Avoision. (Score:3, Funny)
I don't say evasion, I say avoision!
Re:two ways to solve the tax "scam" (Score:3, Funny)
1. Tax revenues correlate with economic growth, not tax rates. This is reality despite your desire to believe in it or not. 2. Lower tax rates spur economic growth. This is reality despite your desire to believe in it or not.
So the situation we've got now, pre-increase, is one of economic growth? And the companies that haven't been paying their taxes have been giving back to America with all the growing they've been doing? Something tells me you need to let your newsletter subscriptions lapse and start looking around you.
Re:two ways to solve the tax "scam" (Score:4, Funny)
Squuuuuuuuuuuuueeeezeeee more blood out of that rock, baby!
We can do it with NO TAXES AT ALL if we just make everything SOOOOOOOOOOOOO efficient!
Re:Where is the crossing line for lowering tax rat (Score:2, Funny)
Operative word being "would". If you were to gather all the economists in the world and put them all in one room, and propose to them what sirwired said, I'm sure that many *would* argue that we passed that point some time ago. It's a fairly safe bet that there wouldn't be unanimous disagreement with this statement, among all the economists on planet earth.
You're the one who wanted to get pedantic.
Re:two ways to solve the tax "scam" (Score:4, Funny)
Abolish the 16th (and the idea that government owns and what you make, deigning what % you can keep yourself) and use something like apt-tax which is effectively an excise tax on currency as I understand it:
http://www.apttax.com/ [apttax.com]
And what about when they change the tax code every year? Do I have to do 'apt-tax dist-upgrade' every April 15?
Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Not a tax scam (Score:5, Funny)
They did actually and they did find a mistake. I am now $1k richer for it.
Re:Where is the crossing line for lowering tax rat (Score:2, Funny)
I actually know a bit about the Laffer Curve, as I breifly studied under Ben Stein. It is very controversial. Does anyone know what Vice President Bush called this in 1980? Anyone? Something-d-o-o economics. "Voodoo" economics.
He IS the chosen one of prophecy! (Score:1, Funny)
"US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said the package of proposals 'would bring balance to our tax code.'"
Re:Not a tax scam (Score:3, Funny)
Yo, Dog, we heard you like to hold buildings, so we put a holding building in yo holding building so you can hold buildings while you hold buildings
Re:Not a tax scam (Score:5, Funny)
Well, once Obama hired them, they did pay up.
Kinda of a strange policy to get tax cheats to pay up, but, it was effective.