Don’t be surprised to lose if you don’t make an effort at being competitive.
And if you go out of your way to make yourself less competitive, expect to lose.
If that sounds like simple common sense, that’s because it is.
But it’s also exactly what the US has been doing for years—enacting tax policies that sabotage its global economic competitiveness.
It’s like trying to get in shape for a marathon by going on an all-McDonald’s diet. (Speaking of McDonalds, check out this funny video spoof of what their commercials should really look like.)
Here are two major reasons why the US is lagging in the global economic marathon:
- The US has the highest effective corporate income tax rate in the developed world (see chart below).
- Unlike most other countries, which only tax domestic profits, the US taxes the earnings of foreign subsidiaries of US companies when the money is transferred back to the US. This has had the effect of US corporations keeping over $1.9 trillion in retained earnings offshore to avoid the crippling US corporate income tax.

These “worst in the developed world” tax policies are clearly hurting the global competitiveness of American companies.
Being deemed a “US Person” for tax purposes is like trying to swim with a lifejacket made of lead.
It should come as no surprise that an increasing number of productive people and companies are seeking to shed this burden so they can keep their heads above water.
At this point, it’s more than just a trickle—it’s an established trend in motion.
And I don’t see anything that would reverse it. On the contrary, given the political dynamics—ramped-up spending on welfare and warfare policies, as well as an “eat the rich” mood—taxes have nowhere to go but north. And that means the exodus will continue.
Three Cheers for Walgreens
Over the past couple of years, dozens of high-profile US companies have moved abroad (or seriously considered it) to lower their corporate income tax rate and to access their offshore retained earnings without triggering US taxes.
Among them are Medtronic, Liberty Global, Sara Lee, and Omnicom Group—the largest US advertising firm—to just name a few.
Earlier this year Pfizer, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, sought (but was ultimately rebuffed) to move abroad, which would have cut its tax bills by as much as $1 billion a year.
The strategy these companies are using is known as an inversion. It’s where a US company merges with a foreign company in a jurisdiction with lower taxes and then reincorporates there. Current US law allows for this if the foreign shareholders own at least 20% of the combined company (though some are trying to raise the minimum to 50%).
Now, despite the howls and shrieks from upset politicians and the mainstream media about these companies being “unpatriotic” and “un-American,” they’re doing absolutely nothing illegal. Inversions are totally acceptable within the current rules of the US Tax Code.
Chuck Grassley, a Republican senator from Iowa has said, “These expatriations aren’t illegal. But they’re sure immoral.”
I beg to differ.
Why would anyone want to give the destructive bureaucrats in DC a penny more than is legally required? As far as I’m concerned, not only is there nothing wrong with going where you’re treated best, there's also an ethical and moral imperative to starve the Beast.
And now the latest high-profile company to consider putting the Beast on a diet is Walgreens.
Walgreens is considering reincorporating in Switzerland as part of a merger with Alliance Boots, a European rival. The net effect for would be to reduce Walgreens’ tax rate to 20%, down from around 31% now. The move is estimated to save around $4 billion over the next five years.
What really has the politicians scared is that inversions have started to snowball.
The New York Times quoted an international tax lawyer stating that “it takes one company with enough public recognition to start [a] domino effect.”
Walgreens could be the company that triggers a domino effect. If Walgreens were to move, it would gain a significant competitive advantage against its rivals. CVS, Walgreens’ main competitor, paid a 34% tax rate in recent years. Can CVS really compete with Walgreens if the latter is paying 20%?
Probably not. And that will only lead to more inversions.
Another Way to Starve the Beast
Remember, US companies are not globally competitive because of these two unique burdens:
- The US has the highest effective corporate tax rate in the developed world.
- Unlike most countries, which only tax domestic profits, the US taxes the earnings of foreign subsidiaries of US companies when the money is transferred back to the US.
We have already seen how inversions can reduce #1, but they also offer huge benefits in terms of #2.
Reincorporating abroad allows companies to permanently avoid paying US taxes on foreign earnings. It also allows companies to access their retained earnings offshore in ways they couldn’t before without triggering punishing US taxes.
Medtronic, for example, has accumulated $20.5 billion of untaxed earnings in foreign subsidiaries. By reincorporating abroad, Medtronic can access that money without getting slapped with US corporate income taxes, which would save it billions.
For companies like Medtronic and Walgreens, reincorporating abroad seems like a no-brainer.
Contrary to the government propaganda, the villains in this story aren’t the companies seeking to diversify abroad to remain globally competitive. The villains are clearly the spendthrift politicians who enact these “worst in the developed world” tax policies, which create very compelling incentives for these companies to leave the US.
It’s Not Just Companies Saying Sayonara
While the US should be enacting policies that make it attractive for productive people and companies to come to the US—rather than driving them away—don’t hold your breath for positive change. It’s more likely that nothing but more taxes and regulations are coming.
But as we have seen with companies like Medtronic and Walgreens, companies have options too.
And it’s not just multibillion-dollar corporate entities that have options. Individuals operating on a modest scale can also reap enormous benefits by diluting the amount of control the bureaucrats in DC (or any country) wield over them. International diversification is the solution.
You do this by moving some of your savings abroad with offshore bank and brokerage accounts, physical gold held abroad, owning foreign real estate, and establishing an offshore company or trust.
Obtaining a second passport is an important part of the mix as well.
You probably can’t take all of these steps, and that’s fine. Even taking just one will go a long way to reducing your political risk and giving you more options. In many cases, you don’t even have to leave your living room.
Think of it as your own personal insurance policy against an out-of-control government.
However, things can change quickly. New options emerge, while others disappear. This is why it’s so important to have the most up-to-date and accurate information possible when formulating your international diversification strategy. That’s where International Man comes in.
To keep up with the best strategies, you might want to check out our Going Global publication, where they are discussed in great actionable detail.


Smart corporations. Is there any advantage to remaining a US corporation or citizen today (assuming you and/or your firm have the funds to facilitate the citizenship of your choice)?
For example, why foot the bill for national "defense" here when the government is writing checks to pay for the "defense" of many other nations - just relocate there and pay less.
Makes sense - and no Obummercare!
What's really amusing about this is, the same global corporations who are becoming "new nationalities" for purposes to pay less taxes, are the same who are encouraging the illegal immigration invasion for purposes of cheap, exploitable labor for decades to come!!
So no taxes to the government that is subsidizing entitlements and welfare through overtaxation, yep that's gonna end well!!
Racing out to beat being nationalized by the USSA.
"You didn't build that." Writing is on the wall and in your face.
Mexico at 30% - WTF?
No surprise here. This is the natural course of banana republics.
We may have to start importing toilet paper from Venezuela.
These tax rates are only for the little companies, the multinationals stopped paying long ago.
Watch this new dutch documentary that shows how this works in detail..
The tax free tour. About tax havens used by multinationals to park an estimated trillion dollars without paying tax.
English viewers, turn on subtitles: Click CC at the bottom of the video player, or click the "double lines" icon on the right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P057-k-hFY
The vimeo copy: http://vimeo.com/65139459
(PS: one used to be able to watch it on the channel of the producing network, but not anymore, so gues it won't be long untill it is completely taken offline: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4o13isDdfY )
Get out of Denver baby......go go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf8KoaN_dF8
Screw this Saul Alinsky crap. Stick your Cloward and Piven where the sun don't shine.
Meet you at Galt's Gulch.....wherever that ends up being. Bring me a whopper with cheese from Tim Hortons.....super size it just to piss off Bloomberg.
The tax rates on the graph are not real, only theoretical. The difference in effective tax rates is 10 times larger with the usa at the top, unless you are a friend industry and have been provided with custom made loopholes.
How about a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and maybe, just maybe, you´ll start to see some extra patriotism from the corporate sector. Ha ha ha...I needed the laugh.
Good one!!!
:::dove clap:::
Eugenics is alive and well in America.
So if Apple decides to bring back $100 billion dollars of the cash it has parked outside the country - what tax rate would it pay on the transfer?
Will the IRS let them pay at their current "effective" tax rate - or will they want the full top marginal rate?
I ask this - not because I don't know - but because you don't.
Think about it and then consider.
It is NOT about effective tax rates - it is all about marginal tax rates.
Decisions are made based on the marginal rate.
Maybe also consider - the fucking obvious part.
If our tax burden is so small compared to other countries then why are so many companies trying to figure out a way to leave the country to escape taxes?
It is not some theory - it is already happening.
I guess in your world they must be trying to escape the low effective tax rates for much higher effective tax rates.
Soon it will be cheaper to use $1 FRN's.
FRN's are made with real cotton as well.
@Ying Yang, remind me to never leave an e-mail link on Z/H!
Welcome to , Can't get Enoughistan.
"if you go out of your way to make yourself less competitive, expect to lose."
By all means, this fascist backwater formerly known as America needs to suck even more Corporate dick than it already does. And uh, how bout gettin rid of all those pesky reg-yoo-lay-shuns? Haven't the Chinese PROVED that the environment is overrated and how immeasurably a man can be fulfilled with but a single bowl of rrrrice?? And these TAXES! They are a CHOKiNG uS, gentlemen!! (gasp, sputter, wheeze!)
Gentlemen, to your knee pads...let the "competition" begin!
In Canada we worry about all our stores becoming American, or put out of business by large American company's. Naturally these types of corporate inversions, where a company becomes pseudo-Canadian, is not the type of solution we looked for. It may bring a few jobs to Canada but oddly, income and other taxes in Canada are very much higher than the US. In fact I consider Canada to be overly socialist and its quite nauseating that so many lib-tards can't figure out the whole accelerated taxation, slippery slope to Communism component. This makes the whole situation, the fact that corporate taxes are so much lower, all very putrid. Income taxes should be better aligned to corporate tax. Our BS red, Canadian, passive - aggressive, fuck you Harper for staining our international rep country is just another place for your rich to hide their money.
But then when will we have banker back bacon? Notice how nobody ever suicide bombs the Rothschild estate? Talk all you want but its all bullshit without action.
BBB
Notice how nobody ever suicide bombs the Rothschild estate?
I dropped a note about that in the ISIS suggestion box....I also threw in a map of the hidden nailgun locations.
Yeah but some guy was attacking them on twitter.
They have it and use it, go for it.
So maybe, which was the whole point of the article, instead of trying to prevent Corporations doing this, perhaps they should change the US tax code to become competitive. Oh, and also start to address spending versus income, aka "The deficit".
I'm not a US citizen but I know from many American friends that it is now near impossible for a US citizen to open a Bank Account overseas now, as a result of FATCA. Foreign Banks just don't want the hassle. So it is getting more difficult for individuals. Even dual nationality doesn't help US citizens because so long as they still have a US Passport they are still subject to US taxation on global income. The US is the ONLY OECD country to do this.
Corporations, however, can reincorporate offshore even without even using an inversion. They would still need a legal entity in The US, which would become a US subsidiary Company, and pay US taxes on US income. However, through transfer pricing and Royalty payments etc., this can be reduced to almost zero. Also, depending on the taxation policy of the new host nation, if it charges tax on overseas income (Many don't) offshore taxes can be offset againg host country taxes.
The bottom line is that money goes where it is treated best, so don't blame Corporations who are both trying to remain globally competitive and do the right thing by their owners, the shareholders.
"...it is now near impossible for a US citizen to open a Bank Account overseas now, as a result of FATCA..."
LOL! Yep, the IRS (along with domestic banksters and brokers) treat the US taxpayer like you'd expect a street pimp to treat some 'Ho: "...doncha go gettin no ideas bout taking yo financial biddness outta dis cuntry! Got dat bitch? Ya'all belongs to ME!"
In the end, the IRS is about bureaucratic enterprise: parlay the largest possible pile of intrusive, 4th amendment-busting regulations inro the biggest possible regulation/paperwork processing organization. Then, make the longest list of powers ya can for an army of pyschopaths and put 'em in a couple departments called "audits" and "collections". Oh, and the last step... show your power by making impossible demands and scarin' the crap outta people.
The IRS, ultimately is not about collecting taxes, it's about bureaucratic power and control of the population. The self-defeating nature of FATCA is proof of that.
The idea of taxing income is sick and it always has been. With HR25 (the FairTax) before ways and means, a growing number of sponsors in both houses of congress and increasing public awareness, the end of the IRS is on the horizon.
An important feature of the FairTax (HR25) is that it ends corporate taxation altogether. The coporate tax just gets passed on to consumers - so why do it? It merely drives up the cost of production and drives jobs offshore.
Well, there will be one group of losers in all this: the little gerbils who scurry about employed at tax accounting, return preparation, auditing and enforcing as required by the corporate portion of the income tax code.
But there's an irony in that: without the IRS jamming its foot on the throat of small business in this country, these displaced workers will probably find enough new job openings to become re-employed.
With HR25 (the FairTax) before ways and means, a growing number of sponsors in both houses of congress and increasing public awareness, the end of the IRS is on the horizon
Pass the pipe bro! I wanna get high enough to believe the IRS is about to br abolished to! Fucking hilarious. The IRS goes WHEN THE WHOLE FUCKING GOVERNMENT GOES! It's the accounting arm of the oligarchy. The National Guard will be disbanded before the IRS loses power. Get real man.
You have a very good point. For decades, I've been watching this clown show where tax protesters go against the IRS in courts of appeal that simply will...not...uphold...the US Constitution. The protesters might just as well go to some wailing wall and grind their faces into a bloody mass.
I've watched senators take national campaigns on the road that fizzled into nothing within weeks; and, I've seen countless "reforms" and "simplifications" of the code get drowned in successive new tsunamis of IRS code.
The group of "rotten buggers" profiting from the current tax system has just been too large to overcome until recently. The code has been driving our economy into the ground and is ruining this country in countless other ways, but none of the IRS employees, K-Street homies, congressional wheeler-dealers, tax attorneys, tax planners, tax preparer's and many others (a little over 2 million by my count) give a shit. As long as they get to buy that spiffy new car, that extra house, that retreat they'll use when everything falls apart and put a stash in an offshore bank account and safe deposit box - whadda they care? I imagine their attitude would be: as long as I get mine...screw the country!
They'll fight it to the bitter end.
But things are different now:
1. We have in the FairTax (HR25); a fully developed, ready to go, drop-in replacement for the Income Tax system. It is one of the most well researched and funded pieces of legislation ever introduced in congress. It has finally, after about 10 years of being deliberately ignored, made its way before the house Ways and Means Committe.
2. We have a growing grass roots organization at the national level that is educating people about how it works and why the FairTax really is a fair tax.
3. The IRS, because of its inefficiencies (as I pointed out above, the IRS is not about collecting tax), cannot collect anywhere near the amount of tax that can be collected via the FairTax. This is something that will facilitate change. (yes, yes, yes....I know, every ZH'er wants to starve the government -- so, the FairTax is bad? If that's what you think, you are so wrong... the passing of HR25 will have some unforseen fallout that will affect spending. but let's separate issues: that is a discussion for another day)
4. People are beginning to connect the dots betw the NSA, IRS, CIA, MIC, unnecessary wars, etc. and there is a growing willingness in the population to re-consider the importance of our constitution, especially where the 4th and 5th amendments apply. This will help inform the debate about why the IRS has to be shut down.
Change is coming. To make it happen, everyone needs to be part of it.
dupe of above.
Except for Ireland, with its 12.5% corporate tax (and sometimes zero for Apple), the corporate country tax rates shown start at 17%. For the past few years, GE has paid zero corporate tax. Another example of low corporate taxes are the U.S. drug companies with operations in Puerto Rico, who pay very little in corporate taxes. The U.S. tax code is rife with corporate tax loopholes. Only, thanks to the massive corporate tax dodges using the "double dutch sandwich," practiced by Apple, Google and other high technology companies, every big corporation wants to get more massive tax dodges. U.S. corporations never pay the maximum corporate tax rate, a fact that many imbecile commentators ignore.
Look at the tax collection figures: the IRS collects about $350-400 billion a year from the FICA Social Security wage taxes and about $125 billion from corporate taxes. So, the dwindling middle class wage earner pays in FICA triple the total amount collected from corporate taxes. And don't say the employer pays half the FICA tax for wage earners, that tax is considered in deciding on employee salaries. Naturally, at about the $110,000 yearly wages level, the IRS caps the FICA tax. Until two years ago, hedge fund billionaires paid a maximum of 15% long term capital gains tax on their earnings, before deductions.
"The power to tax is the power to destroy," paraphrasing Chief Justice Marshall. The New World Order Nazis are close to achieving their goals of endless wars and the destruction of the middle classes in the U.S.A. and Europe. No matter is too small when it comes to eliminating the middle class, even to getting rid of teacher tenure, a pet goal of eugenicist Bill Gates.
The economic world as we knew it in the mid 20th century is fading into feudalism and brigandage.
GE actually does not pay zero in taxes. They have a rule in which they using losses accrued in prior years to offset current profits. That's actually a logical idea in many ways. Companies that lose money cannot pay federal taxes, anyway.
My problem with the whole tax discussion is that the leftist-progressives have generally won from the start. Most everyone in America starts with the assumption that government should take whatever it needs which is to say that government actually owns all money or at least has access to it. This is a complete inversion of reality and a serious threat to any sustained liberty. Milton Friedman was right when he asserted that political freedom without economic freedom is an illusion. To put it another way, if your taxes are 100% you have no freedom. You are actually a slave to the State. This is the end game of the Left. We all become tax mules. Our purpose is to work as hard as we can and pony up all the money the State demands. We are to keep working hard even when the bulk of our earnings are confiscated and given to others who did not earn it.
The 39.1% corporate tax rate is not actually a corporate tax, it is always an individual tax. All the individuals in the business must earn enough and produce enough to cover the taxes. When any company pays that much to useless bureaucrats then there is no money for raises, extra benefits, an improved production line or most importantly...risk. Companies must take chances on innovation in order to succeed over time. That is why the S&P turns over dramatically if you look at it every 50 years. Fifty years ago GM was the biggest company in the entire world and Sears was the preeminant retailer. Both are on welfare or life support now.
The Left will turn all of America into Detroit if they are not stopped. They will do it as it is their nature just like termites will destroy your home.
+17T
>> The Left
Ahh, the mythical "left" in America. I guess as long as you've got your boogy man you can cheer on the plundering of America by your corporate heroes.
Couple that with the myth that corporations pay taxes......they don't.....you do.
Raise taxes on corporations and they will raise prices....the good news is you don't have to buy a damn thing.....except for heathcare.
I think that's unconstitutional......but apparently King John Roberts disagrees with me.
Funny, the mythical left know who they are but you don't. Yes, red/blue distractions but they still have an effective death grip on K-Kollege
I am going to suggest something that will be rather unpopular here but that "corporations" are actually the boogeyman, the snipe or the political misdirection.
Before hitting the down arrows or flaming, consider this. It is not WalMart that raises your income taxes or forces you to register your car. All those things preceded Walmart. It is not Starbucks that set up the NSA and told you they would not spy on you. It is not GM, that says you cannot do gay marriage or prohibits gay marriage. Do companies seek favors and any favorable tax breaks they can? You bet. BTW, you do, too. You take every legal deduction you can and you value that beat up coffee table you donate to Goodwill at ten times the real market price. For the Left, this is hypocrisy. For the rest of us it is just human nature. For corporations it part of doing business and they did the same with the old kings and queens, the Comrade in Chief in the USSR and ancient Rome. It is a business. If you want to go to military-industrial complex and come conspiracies I will only go part way with you.
Next, ask yourself, "Does GE spend a hundred million dollars lobbying my neighborhood architectural committe or HOA?". No, they do not, because there are no favors to be bought. Said another way, they do not have the power to do anything for GE. However, your local contractor who wants the HOA rennovation contract migh!
The bottom line is power. Government has the guns and the power to make the population do anything. They can repave newly paved roads as a part of "stimulus" and sell the sheeple on how it is good for them...with full union support as well as the asphalt industry. They can save the bank with the same "stimulus" money and tell you how many jobs were saved. They can tax the proles and double teachers wages or maybe their retirements. The point is that there is the power to divert income and do favors and that is why corporations are there. On the flip side it is a part of survival, too. Let's say the enviro's want to eliminate your coal mine through regulation, taxes or an outright seizure of property to close you down. Even if you hate coal do you not expect them to defend themselves? It is about power and survival.
The linchpin for all these things is unlimited government power. I suggest that even in America and the West government power is pretty much unlimited regardless of whatever window dressing processes are left.
We are on our way to becoming Detroit and it will be sold with bows, ribbons, flowery words and airy promises.
If you think the Progressive Left is what is wrong here then you need to look deeper IMO.
You have framed Right/Left as Producers/Takers.
I grew up with the framing of Right/Left as Money/Labor, or Conservative Christian/Amoral Humanist.
My father was a member of the UAW and voted Left. Made sense for him under both frames.
My mom is an evangelical and votes Right. Makes sense for her under the second frame, but not the first.
After living through and paying attention to the GWB/Obama administrations it seems clear to me that Money has won and has corrupted the entire process apparently irredeemably.
To the victor go the spoils. Any crumbs tossed to the losers are certainly the minimum investment needed to avoid the greater expense of open revolt.
To the victor go the spoils.
The next election just needs to be Thunderdome.
When are the adults going to stand up and take control of the playground from the children?
It is interesting you say that. I divide the Left into two camps. The first camp are the "juvenile" leftists. They think it is all about feeding the hungry, housing the homeless and being nice to gay people. They are all flowers and good intentions.
The other camp are the "adult" leftists. They are Stalin, Mao, Bill Ayers and others. The end game is really about power and making society into what you want, damn the poverty and civil rights. These are the ones who use the first group to empower themselves until it is time to take over.
If you have ever spoken to a Soviet defector you will learn that the adult leftists will kill and jail the juvenile lefts as the first order of business after the takeover. It is because they are the biggest threat when their illusion becomes apparent. They can get to the libertarians later and have probalby already beaten them if in power.
The same nation that wants to open it's borders for all that cares to enter is bothered when the opposite occurs?
The best way to get the attention of those elite lawmakers is to see some of the better nations hit the road.
How many of you have worked at companies that were in decline?
Who left first? Those that could, who had something to offer eslewhere.
Who stayed? Those no one else would have hired in the first place.
Who do we know will not be leaving the US? Those that get the greatest subsidies. They will even use the exodus to pursue more subsidies.
Who cares what the top corporate rate is. What
actually gets paid? Did Carlos Slim get to be richest man
in the world by paying 30%?
Shrewd corporations, Dumb Subjects.
The more salient question is:
"Why are 47% of people NOT paying Federal taxes, and thus leaving the rest to carry the entire tax load?"
Isn't this the same site that showed 50% of companies that did an inversion had worse earnings? Either way, its not illegal, but if the US ends subsidies to the companies doing the inversion, let's see how well they do. We may tax them high, but the US gov gives lots of subsidies to corporations.
Leave Walgreens. Leave Burger King. We will probably leave one day too. The whoe goal is to turn this Liberty Experiment into dust and they are succeeding. GTLA and GTFO.
Go ahead and send us your Guatemalans.....we're out of here. If you want to turn the US into a cesspool mirroring South America.....go nuts.
Got little to do with social spending. US taxes are simply the price extorted to project its empire. Depending on which numbers you use, the US budgets around $682 billion/year, more than the next 10 nations COMBINED, for war spending. And that doesn't include black spending or other power projection expenditures like National Endowment for "Democracy".
It is not just defence. I am as isolationist as most other Americans, and do not see the need for our outsized military, but I've got to wonder where the other $3219 billion is spent. With the exception of interest, the remainder is what they call "social" spending at nearly 5 times the defense budget. It's all too much spending, period.
If they can spend hundreds of millions to build a broken, insecure website, you can only imagine how they spend on the rest. It is all bloated and extremely corrupt. They could have paid 2-3 NSA guys an extra 100k and asked them to do it as a weekend project. They would have had it ready in 2-3 weeks.
On stupidity.
Just did my cont. ed. on a state license. One module was on building accessability.
Five seperate Federal laws. administered by four different depts, with state and local
standards on top.
You are missing a massive problem with US taxes. Corporate taxes are higher than personal taxes. Why on earth would you leave money in a company when it is cheaper to pay yourself??? Small and mid sized companies are being hollowed out by their owners.
I'm not missing it at all.
I did the same with my C corp.Its called tax planning.
The greater point is that corporate taxes are taxes on their customers,you and me,
not on the corporation at all.A 0% makes far more sense, except when profits are being sheltered from
personal taxation.
I feel your pain there, Winnie. Oh, look it's renewal time again, and I'm also going to get shaken down by the edumucation monopoly; Continuous education, bullshit, why doesn't actual professional experience count?
You have to be careful with those numbers. The USA is the top economy in the world (for now) and we will be number one in most any kind of spending good or bad as compared to the next ten economies. We probably spend more on automobiles than the next ten countries, more on hamburgers and more on welfare, too.
Unless we withdraw from the world and mothball half the fleet we are going to spend more than anyone else. I would suggest the debate should be more about foreign policy including any foreign interventions. That will drive the size of the military.
On the flip side as the poster below asserts the domestic spending dwarfs any military spending and for me, it is all unconstitutional. In any case, the debate has to be about what we ask government to do. The best intentioned Republicans and Libertarians will never ever succeed at reigning in government until we stop asking it to do "stuff". If you stop asking government to do Socialism Security, buying healthcare and paying farm subsidies, only then can you reduce the size. What you cannot do is exactly what we really do. We say, "Buy free healthcare and meds for everyone over 64!" which is an open ended promise that no one can price. Then we get mad when we find out that "free" healthcare costs too damned much. Then we tell lies about how we will reign in corruption, waste and inefficiency and ultimately costs. Won't ever happen. Cannot happen because of the nature of government services.
The deficit is the difference between what we ask government to do and what we are actually willing to pay.
Who cares.... Average effective rate in 2013 was 12.6%..... No one pays 39%. These guest writers are just fear monogering jabronis always trying to capture desperate people who love discussing economic policies that are based around their dogmatic ideology.... ZH is turning into such a joke.
That's because the Trillions of offshore earnings are parked overseas. As most developing countries have learned, lower tax rates and closed loopholes result in compliance and higher overall tax collection. Why can't the US learn the same lesson?
They know the lesson, but those running this thing WANT globalization. That is why they instructed Congress to make US law so that the small and medium sized corps that can't get overseas and can't buy a special favor get brutally taxed so that some bill are paid while the big boys that ship American jobs overseas get untaxed profits. The hollowing out of American industry was a deliberate policy decision. Our corporate tax policy is DESIGNED to reward companies which globalize and punish those who don't.
The solution is to make a tax code that does the opposite- that punishes companies which outsource and rewards those which stay at home. Our corporate tax code should tax all earning of American corporations no matter where those profits are earned. They pay taxes on profits in China and if the Chinese tax them they pay that too. The rational response to this would be to split the corporation into sister companies, one operating in the US and one in China, each of which will develop their own interests over time. That is the only way we are ever again going to have self-government instead of global corporate government.
This idea is found in "Localism, A philosophy of Government" and I am convinced that in the end it is going to be either globalism or localism, if for no other reason than no other system of government can resist glovalism.
Bob:
I don't doubt that the effective rate for '13 was 12 and change.
I'm afraid to ask how many more jobs are these companies now moving overseas due to inversion.
Many of the largest can buy tax avoidance where most of the small and midsized pay the full ride. Further, the bulk of american employees work for small, not these mega corporations. GE pays no taxes and their chief executive is on Obama's right elbow.
Business should be paying no taxes, especially considering we still have a negative trade balance. Corporate taxes are paid by their customers "us" and thereby become another hidden tax that their foreign competitors do not have. But hell, nobody wants to work anymore regardless so why sweat it, right? Soon enough we will all qualify for benefits and no longer need rely on a job for our survival. Free at last!!!!!
Math apparently isn't your strong point. If the average is 12.6% and large (i.e. multinational) companies which have a huge (even compared to the Pareto principal) share of the total corporate gross income base are concentrated beneath the mean of 12.6%, then there is a much larger (read majority) of corporations that pay higher than 12.6%.
The give an idea of you of much Progress!® has been made since the good old days of Pareto and 80/20...
Over sixty percent of US companies have less than 1 million in annual receipts, and less than 1/3 of 1 percent of US companies have more than 100 million in annual receipts.
Comparing the 1/3 of 1% to the 60+%:
The 1/3 of 1% employ over 5 times as many workers.
The 1/3 of 1%'s combined payroll is over 14 times as large.
The 1/3 of 1%'s combined receipts (gross income) is about 55 times as large.
or slice the pie another way...
The bottom 80% of the US corporate pyramid:
employ 1.5% of the workers
pay 0.5% of the wages
and receive 0.2% of the revenue
So whether the bottom 80% pays a corporate tax rate of 0%, 39% or 100%, it doesn't move dial.
https://www.census.gov/econ/smallbus.html
Now go back and think about what a 12.6% average would actually mean, and if you still don't get it, then you need to get an education, even if it means becoming a student debt serf. The only joke around here are all the clowns who can't get past their own ideological cock smoking.
Pretty good for a redneck.
Here is the other side that leftists who like to tout low actual collection rates miss. Tax law drives business decisions. In order to preserve income or just avoid handing it over the black hole of government businesses make decisions that keep their rates lower. On the simplistic side, a company might relocate from CA to FL to avoid state taxes. Moreover, if there is an accounting gimmick or another investment that lets them keep capital or reduce tax burdens, they will do it. If company coffee shops get a 150% tax break you will see them everywhere. It leads to crazy spending at times, too. Let's say entertainment is fully tax dedcutible (I think it is 50% currently). You will suddenly see companies buying box seats at sporting events. It is better to spend ten million dollars on entertaining customers and get a 90% deduction than to give the government between 4 and 9 million dollars in taxes. That tax money produces nothing for the company and investors!
Now, the leftist simpletons will never admit that intervening in a complex economy has all kinds of unintended results. They will simply intepret all data in their favor and essentially assert that anyone paying less than 100% taxes is unpatriotic, greedy and corrupt.
March on brave comrades!
Come on down to Honest Cal's for that NEW used car! Ha Ha.
Come on down to Honest Goldline to get your gold and silver bullion! Ha. Ha.
Come on down to Honest Casey's to get your offshore entity! Ha. Ha.
Really folks, we don't make a dime at this nickel grinding shit, we are here for you and your prosperity. Ha. Ha.
The tax code is 8 inches thick of tax loop holes for corporations. For an individual, the tax code is only a few pages. Ha. Ha.
Sum that rant up with this.......lots of Americans are pretty damn stupid.
The plan is to make us even more so with Common Core. Thanks Bill and Melinda Gates.
For corporations that do in fact pay their taxes and are good "corporate citizens" there are however benefits. First off you basically are getting free money for the Fed. Second you're participating in the biggest energy boom since the Illinois coal basin was discovered.
Third if jobs and wages really have bottomed here you're ticking off a better off US consumer.
Fourth "this is the land of Amazon.com." Nothing says "tax free" like the internet.
Fifth "good luck taxing bit coin."
The list really does grow long...even from this one. Still if this is a protest agains imprudent financial management (the F-35, the ACA, etc) I think it's a good one. No one can argue "Burgher King doesn't hire."
This article is so misconstrued/ I started buying property overseas in 2001.
I love my country. For all it's faults, and dikweeds.
ISIS is the figment of CIA imaginations. Who in their right mind would recruit these destitute children to do their bidding?
I'm in s\Swaziland, and Jet Lagged. I can't wait to see "9News" opening in a few hours. The ASX was following the late PUMP in us equity markets Friday!
What is it that you love about your country? Because my butt is hurtin' me...
You, are why I love my Country!
You, "Otto" care about the well being of others.
FWIW, My prolapsed asshole is hurtin'
Do you remember what Bush 41 complained about the globalist agenda? "But there are so many..."
Here it is.
Politicians pass laws, purposely, to make this happen and then they're surprised when it does happen? WE voted for these traitors on both sides of the aisle.
And the Guv knows it...
U.S. Hikes Fee To Renounce Citizenship By 422%http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/08/28/u-s-hikes-fee-to-renou...
If the bank took my home and the economy took my job, am I still a citizen? Of what?
Peter Schiff describes what such individuals are in this podcast on this subject.
http://schiffradio.com/site/rd;jsessionid=5C5C48BFD6AAFF1C13013B9DE9030C...
They left out Bulgaria with just 10% corporate tax
Never forget that corps and businesses never pay taxes--Their customers do.
Higher taxes means higher prices. And higher prices means lower sales. And lower sales means lower profits. And lower profits means lower return on capital. And so it goes.
An American, not US subject.
"Can I please get a banana with my republic?!"
There comes a point when government spending and printing out paces its ability to enforce insane rates of taxation :) . . . They really can't raise it past 40%, if they do everyone will just give up because its no longer even worth your time to operate. . . its already at that point where you feel like a retard paying taxes because its become such a scam / extortionist rate to pay. . . the only way to stay in business is to "make friends" with govt and get out of paying this "shit" altogether.
All this crap is passed on to consumers, which in the end will cause stagnation in the economy and cause more problems, (more lay offs, and lower productivity), since Government is the least productive sector of the economy (the most waste per unit of real value) its only logical to assume that one day Govt will raise the taxes past a point of no - return and cause a cascading collapse of an inefficient system.
Just go play SimCity and raise the tax rate to 20%, your city will fail in short order... the real world works on the same economic rules.... unless we all change those rules collectively, but that usually ends badly.
This country would see explosive economic growth if the corporate income tax was abolished.
Imagine the number of companies from all around the world that would move here...building new corporate headquarters, hiring employees, paying salaries, acquiring other companies, paying dividends, etc...the list of benefits is too long to list.
They already have to Maggie's farm in the City...
It creates a neo feudal oligarchy and it destroys the nation state and democracy.
We have to know what we want!
But...the reality of the "outsourced" global economy is the Apple/Walmart "slave labour arb" kombine, which pays 8% corporate tax and stashes its wealth in the Virgins via "special investment vehicles"; aka shadow banking toxic tools ONLY THE RICH can buy!
GE like all those others pay 8%.
Not surprising if the largest oligarchy kombine in the world has a problem reconciling its MIC stick, its Oligarchy stash in Virgins and its need to let some trickle down feed the sheeple who vote for its elected puppets of Congress.
When you've blown up all the wealth in the mad Casino plays you now have a problem making two ends meet, like the Princes of Romanov days living on the Riviera or the Nabobs of India spending their wealth on jewels and Baccarat crystal to decorate their palaces they couldn't afford.
falak, you make me laugh. Most people of this world have choices available to them unimaginable a century ago. And the hardships of the past are almost unheard of today. Our problem is not lack of choice, it is too many choices and a great disparity in those choices defining freedom from dependency. We CHOOSE dependency and then scream bloody murder because we were tricked, manipulated into it. They tricked us into borrowing too much money to by crap they tricked us into thinking we needed. The fooled us into believing we could buy cheap foreign made crap and still keep our high paying union jobs. We have been duped into believing we could pay a small portion of our income to insurance and be guaranteed premium care, state of the art technology and live forever only to discover that this immortality increasingly will cost them all of their earthly goods as well as their freedom in life.
They lied to us promising free shit and no personal accountability and stole our liberty in the process. Grow up. WE did this. WE gave it all away and still are.
They and We...so who wears the suit?
I agree, we do live in an age of incredible plenty all based on techno progress which harnesses the Earth's resources. But cheap oil is not forever and thinking it is is like shooting yourself in the foot. Jack's beanstalk...
We gave inordinate power to them, the elected, 'cos the likes of Ronnie said : the State is the problem not the solution. And we believed him.
Now that Lehman collapse has proven its the private sector financialized scam economics, that he and his kind introduced over 30 years, which has resulted in State and people being bamboozled, we realize our ELECTED were part of the SCAM.
Inspite of winning the Cold War and having no ideological enemies when NWO emerged ! Oh the irony!
"They lied to us..." Those are your words...May I just add those of Cicero to those :
...A nation can survive its fools, even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within... for the traitor appears not as traitor in the Republic's eyes if he wears the robe of Consul and commands it's legions...
We are there, this is beyond our own sheeple gullibility, this is now a de facto state of "crony" conspiracy in the face of "gone with the wind wealth" that COULD bring down the Republic, in order to protect the wealthy if the people reclaim profound change.
You try and take back what you have lost. Lets see if the American people can clean house without civil unrest that will be similar to what we see in third world countries; aka despotism and military clampdown.
The proof of your thesis lies in the pudding of "the fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars but in ourselves that we be the underlings..."
Play on Cassius!
And yet choices remain. Just not the ones we want. We see liberty as the bridge just too damned far. The costs are high and "we" the collective, refuse to pay. So we get what we have. People will refuse to pay the cost of freedom until they have nothing left to lose.
Personally, I believe you are onto a key issue. I believe much of the USA, at least the productive part of the USA and get rid of this Leviathan government...everything from the ubiquitous red light cameras to the IRS filings. However, who the hell really has the time, energy and willing to make the sacrifice to overthrow the current structures? Essentially no one, because we still have things we love and cherish including family. Once there is little or nothing left to lose, when every turn of life requires an interaction with a government agent, when those agents have asked you document your entire life and have seized most everything...then the cause of freedom will move into the arena of action from the arena of sentiments.
What I liked about the Bundy ranch incident was that a lot of people spontaneously took action (for liberty) regardless of what you think of Bundy or even his case.
They of course now have all their laptops and phones bugged by the NSA and the IRS is preparing to audit everyone of them into a burning financial hell...but they took action.
And so you think that is what THEY want? They care not how much they own or control, they simply want it all. Control works that way. Killing it is controlling it. To have explosive growth means they control very little. True growth means WE are in control and it is OUR growth. No, they don't want growth beyond some metric they can claim "indicates" growth while providing none. inflation???
The problem is that the US has an effectively worldwide reach for anyone.
They like to pretend they have, but in fact they do not.
It is all about understanding precisely your objective and then setting things up properly,
We have been doing it for years for both UK and US SME's and it works perfect;y well and there is no possibility of FATCA getting involved.
Starve the beast!! Don't eat at Mickey D's! Pack your own goddamned lunch!
the fee for renouncing citizenship just went up over 400%
http://blogs.wsj.com/totalreturn/2014/08/30/government-fee-to-give-up-u-...
The fee for individuals to renounce U.S. citizenship is jumping to $2,350 as of Sept. 12—more than five times the current charge of $450.
The U.S. State Department, in its explanation for the increase, said that documenting a renunciation is “extremely costly” and requires a minimum of two intensive interviews with the applicant as well as other procedures.
The fees charged for a number of other services, such as “fiance(e) visas” and employment-based visa applications, increased far less than those for renunciation and in some cases declined.
The large increase in the renunciation fee comes at a time when record numbers of Americans living abroad are cutting ties with the U.S. Last year, 2,999 U.S. citizens and green-card holders renounced their allegiance to the U.S., a record number, andrenunciations in 2014 are on track to exceed that. The State Department estimates that 7.6 million Americans live abroad.
In its explanation of the fee increase, the State Department referred to the growth in renunciations, noting that since 2010 the demand has “increased dramatically, consuming far more consular time and resources.” It also referred to a 2010 statement saying that the $450 fee was substantially less than what it cost to provide the service, adding that “there is no public benefit or other reason for setting this fee below cost.”
According to a State Department spokesman, the wait time for an expatriation interview has increased to as much as six months in some areas, while it is as short as two to four weeks in others. He added that three-quarters of all renunciations are processed by consular offices in Canada, the U.K. and Switzerland.
Advocates for U.S. expatriates reacted angrily to news of the increase. “I’m so disappointed and insulted by the continuing punitive actions of the U.S. in trying to prevent persons and companies from leaving,” said Carol Tapanila, who was born in New York state but has lived in Canada for more than 40 years. She renounced her citizenship in 2012.
Most of those renouncing are actually dual citizens returning to their home countries... now that their "gold rush" is over, they can pull up stakes and return. If you read the Federal Register, you'll realize that "long term residents", who aren't citizens, or really able to "renounce" any US citizenship to speak of, are counted as "renouncing" when they don't renew thier residencies.
Consider those facts when mentioning these numbers... unless it detracts from your message, in which case itt's those "damned statistics".
And why bother to renounce your citizenship with those crazy fees? Just do whatever duty it is you need to do whereever you are, and simply RELINQUISH it instead... save yourself the three or four very inconvenient appointments at the embassy, all the quite stupid questions, and that $2350!
i know.
and there's a good write-up here on the subject:
http://hodgen.com/relinquishing-u-s-citizenship-and-expatriation/
Can't one just say " Fcuk you"
When one takes the citizenship of most other countries, they automatically renounce their earlier one.
I would think that's more than adequate.
And to top it all- I don't think the US will be around the way it is.
Everyone is waiting for the final 5th wave to complete at 2034, but what everyone forgets that the last roughly 20 percent correction in 2011 started from a failed fifth wave. Which would have occurred this past week.
We started about 3 years ago now, helping SME's, particularly those finding life almost impossible by being unable to raise bank finance, overdrafts, getting fined for missing complex regulations, finding business drying up fast, and now especially the obummer care act is literally destroying jobs and profits amongst SME,s
Three years ago it was hard work, it was a real challenge to get any SME interested or even to to believe for one second what will be coming.
We persevered, we work with a major offshore corporate law firm, we have established many clients off shore in that time, and we only deal with the self employed, start ups, and entrepreneurs and SME's.
We found it very hard to find associates in the US three years ago, no one was interested and thought it will be doomed, but we persevered.
We now find people coming to us, to work with us to help thier clients, people such as George Zazuata at Zazueta and Co.
People are starting to wake up to reality now and we looked for and advertised for associates to work with, people who could make $200,000 a year with a bit of effort, to teach them to do that and work with us, Three years a forlorn effort.
Now its changing so fast it is overwhelming.
We are still looking for people, you don't need a diploma or be a Harvard grad, just someone who can talk sensibly and show small business owners a PowerPoint presentation.
If anyone interested then contact me
corporate tax rates don't really mean anything as a whole. you have to look into the finer details.
the nexus of elite corporations , the few hundred mega conglomerates in this typical infographic don't pay these taxes, and have billiosn spent every year on lawyers all over the world to ensure revenues contracting and profits are properly shifted and hidden.
thus the 39% rate or whatever it may actually be, is only paid by the 'little guys' in this case, the smaller and medium sized corporations that are not in the elite international club.
below is an example of a map of a dozen or so of these conglomerates there are few hundred maybe even a few thousand more. they account for the bulk of strategically entrenched oligarchy that not only don' t pay tax, but reinforce the legal policy of taxation of smaller and medium size competitors as a highly effective anti-competitive tactic.
the bigger you get, the more everything is about taxes and pricing power. mcuh of you strategy is about how to keep your competitors down below you. rather than , yknow, doing the hard work of maker better products and better serving your customers. because once you have so many of them, you wind up being preoccupied just maintaining status quo.
https://www.google.com/search?q=american+conglomerates&espv=2&tbm=isch&s...
While your observation is accurate, it should be pointed out that the actual tax costs of the mega corporations would necessarily include the billions spent on legal tax avoidance. Which is why it is such a specious argument by the left that corporations' tax costs are only the actual taxes paid to the government (and therefor a much much lower "effective" rate than the actual statutory corporate rate). The cost of legal tax avoidance is certainly part of the decision when these corporations are deciding where they will be domiciled.
In the Keynesian world all the cost you describe are stimulative. They have no distinction between cost of production and overhead. Their world is optimized by ALL expenses being overhead and virtually zero cost of production, because they want no production.
Exactly. People commuting to a job to play with the tax code all day provides 1) demand for oil 2) demand for comercial real estate 3) demand for more lobbyist and politicians. All things the elite control.I wonder how much oil the USA would actually need if somebody decided many of these busywork jobs did not need to exist. And consequently, I wonder how many millions less brown people the U.S.A. would have to kill on the other side of the world to get it.
If the tax code was abolished the U.S.A. would enter a non-violent golden age , for all classes but the 1%.
You are both correct (Oldwood and wisefool). I saw a compelling analysis of the present financial systems starting and ending with artificially cheap money. The long and short of it is that it is cheaper and more profitable to play with money than to produce things. This would include gaming the tax code. You might actually save more or produce more profits gaming the system than opening a new production line. You do better laying off people and immediate bottom line improvements than trying to make something better. It also gets you quicker CEO bonuses.
If interest rates were at historical norms of 10-20% to borrow (real money) then suddenly producing something becomes preferable to gaming financial systems. Add to that the regulatory costs of producing real things, in terms of licenses, fees, environmental impact studies, opposition from leftist groups, labor laws, the taxation of real things as opposed to the costs of financial trades. Producing real stuff is risky, dangerous, complex, sometimes physicially difficult (science and engineering) and subject to lots of lawsuits from different arenas (enviro, liability, regulatory, etc.). Only an idiot or passionate believer wants to produce things today...in America or the West.
"Land of the free" lmao
You pay the highest for health care in the world for the equivalent of Cuba in terms of efficacy - basically it's shit in any of the main measures even though you are told otherwise, and this was before any of your Obamacare bullshit which will only put prices up further. You have to pay taxes to keep your house (so you never really own it), you pay ridiculous insurance rates on everything. Your corporations are burdened left right and centre.
Why the fuck anyone would want to live there is beyond me.
I disagree. United States of America is a great place to live. We just have been hijacked by very evil individuals. Once removed, the country will flurish.
Count on it, not bullshit. There's light at the end of the tunnel. Don't be told that it's a incoming train. We have so many brilliant free thinking people in the US and a lot of guns. United States of America will prevail.
;-)
One way or another, we will have the final say.
City of London will once again sink into the abyss. Mark my words.
^ Dem zionists will love you for playing the wrong nationalist card..... again & again & ___________
We have so many brilliant free thinking people in the US and a lot of guns. United States of America will prevail.
Oh well that's why America is up shit creek!. Those many brilliant free thinking people are unable to remove those who trouble their system!!!
There hasn't been enough pain yet. It's coming, with certainty.
I call it the health care gamble. I make good money and pay lower taxes than many other developed countries. I own my house outright becasue I paid cash for it in 08 at the bottom. All this will be canceled out when I run into major health problems since it will be wiped out by medical debt. I have therefore hedged my health care insurance with citizenship in another country with LOW health care costs.
Corporations are finding out what we already know - being a u.s. citizen sucks balls!
Perfect! Lend money to governments whose taxpayers you have sacked and politicians that you have bought. In that way future taxpayers guarantee that they will forever pay for their future subjugation. And the politicians on the payroll will deliver the energy of the forever future generations to boot.
And, in your perfect world is the one where the people must pay for the annhilation of the genomes of all.
According to our US Jewlander Newz outlets, Corporations are people. They don't like to pay taxes anymore than serfs do.
/sarc
Shut up and do as you're told. Give the rich their freebies. NEVER complain that corporations are nation-states unto themselves and you ought to learn to be a good, compliant citizen of Exxon, ADM, DuPont or whichever corporation owns your ass.
As foreign corporations, they can no longer legally contribute to candidates in U.S. elections. I wish the Koch brothers would invert their corporations.
Why? It doesn't seem to slow down Soros who basically stole his money from across the planet, and the Chinese have been trying to buy elections since Clinton and before. Why is it that the liberal solution is always to punish, to limit, to constrain all while preaching freedom and democracy?
Tax the fuckers, right?
Gee, I just can't figure out how prices can be rising while jobs and our personal income are disappearing. It must just be magic and nothing we are doing.
No, its those evil profit seeking corporations. (like none of us are profit motivated (pure as the driven snow))
Do you think it matters anymore? One precinct in Philadelphia during Obama's last election reported 18,000 votes for Obama, none for Romney. Is that even possible? Really now. If they had said 150 for Romney, I might have thought the vote had credibility. There is no vote, no choice. Face the facts. We really have no choice.
Why bother with taxes at this point? Just create the needed revenue out of thin air.
Why bother with taxes at this point?
So the government can pick winners and losers, enforce defacto laws such as hiring quotas, donations to Red team/Blue team, and so on. Kabuki theatre with a good cop bad cop twist. The only U.S. corporations paying 39% are those that have been deemed out of compliance.
Lowering taxes would starve the beast that maintains the central planning that is making the US economy a wasteland. Level playing field is all about everyone having the same ability to succeed. Mom and pop operations will never have the ability to reduce taxes the way large corporations do with inversions. It is all about maintaining that financial advantage through close ties to the government at the highest levels. It is not about a competitive advantage wherer everyone has the same options. As long as this is the game the US will be a wasteland and only the "company stores" will exist. It's game over. Also cap and trade is coming as it maintains the money flow that will continue central planning. All these corporations know this and are looking to avoid it just like they did in California when the super rich and connected got waivers from Obamacare. The game is rigged from the top down while they play "how great the economy is doing" 24/7 on the news channels. Sickening really.
In short,..just get the hell out (of the USSA)>
Besidesn "taxes" are about control, not revenue since Gov.co creates $$ out of thin air.
If you are Jewish (you can document that your mother is Jewish with a letter from your local Rabbi) then move to Israel by making Aliyah; immigrate to Israel. Everyone treats you like family. If you have children the schools are cheap and great; and they can go out at night safely. Health-care is affordable and very professional. Eat like a local with fresh fruits and vegetables, you will not only feel better you will live longer. Contact Nefesh B'Nefesh http://www.nbn.org.il/ for more information.
and even get some US tax payer money too; JEw scum...
The Walgreens CVS argument is slightly flawed. If walgreens does move and pays 14 % less tax than CVS the difference willl only be seen in bonuses, share dividend and how many games of golf they use the company jet for. The actual price of anything in their store will remain the same so the public wont benefit at all
Why would anyone be surprised by these figures as its been going on for years. As long as corporations are throwing millions into Congressional campaigns and favors are being bought, they will continue. Congress writes the tax laws and with an approval rating beow 14%, it's time to clean house during the mid term elections. Send a clear message. The time or meaninful change is now.
The main obstacle to reducing taxes are the masses of toxically injured sheeple all looking to government for help. We have a very sick, anxious, depressed and establishment-loyal society that demands their government aid. That's why taxes stay high.
You can't blame politicians or government for that. Our hidden Jesuit rulers, using their Zionist agents, have placed poisons in our air, water and medicine in order to disable the health of the public in order to minimize the threat to their enormously lucrative Fed banking scams from a healthy, clear thinking, independent, energetic and alert public.
Criminal Banking scams, like the ones the Jesuit-controlled Fed have been engaged in since their takeover of America in the 1913 Fed Act, require that the entire population be chemically dumbed down and be made dependent on government.
This dependence breeds a blind loyalty to the Establishment and the sheeple become captured through toxic injury.
America is an extinct species and doesn't know it yet. Short of an unlikely detoxification campaign, I don't see any hope for the dependent, handicapped, toxically injured and disabled general public.
Maybe when this mass of toxically injured dependents die off can the far healthier and independent survivors create a new small or no government model that restores America's independence, health and competitiveness.
See Jesuit Control Of The Banking System - Eric Jon Phelps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AWXOxWpizc&index=4&list=PL0y96vQIC-WfFs...
and their control & history
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F31TmQ9GwU
The Elite's Poisoning Agenda is descrobed here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB3xcN_eoPo
Well, actually, you HAVE to blame the politicians for that. Because your mother said "no" lots of times when you were growing up for your own good. Now we have politicians who won't do that, because you might not like it and they'll lose their job. In other words, they are not watching out for the people and the big picture. They are taking the easy shortcuts and have created this situation. In the 1950's, the black population of the U.S. had a virtually zero unemployment rate. All that was needed for improvement was education, and not the Marxist indoctrination they give now. But instead, good ol' Lyndon B. decided in 1966 to victimize the black population by re-enslavement via dependency. The politicians took the non-moral ground here and enjoyed seeing how handouts buy votes. Politicians are indeed responsible, and we should hold them responsibie.
Latvia got 15% corporate tax, flat rate.
Only commnenting because I saw Estonia on here. Actually ESTONIA got 0% Corporate tax rate if you re-invest your profits, basically as long as you dont pay out dividends you pay 0% tax. Thats why Estonia is filled with corporations from Scandinavia today. People fleeing socialist shitholes such as Sweden and establishing companies in Estonia, a country that is very advanced when it comes to high tech, skype comes from Estonia for example. Baltics also got one of the fastest internet in the world for example.
Hail Estonia
http://img-9gag-lol.9cache.com/photo/aoZzjD0_700b.jpg
If corporations are people, and can get out of taxes this easily.....why can't I?
And I not a people, too?
Why can't I set up a PO Box overseas, call it my HQ, and pay no tax?
You can. Go overseas, get a high paying job, and renounce your U.S. citizenship.
That is not accurate information.
All by plan and design to deindustrialize.
The Liberal fools think they are sustainable.
The non-white Liberal we be the first exterminated.
In the new world order.
Enjoy your brief time in the sun.
Hmmm....let's see. We send our men and women overseas to die fighting for the 'rights of corporations'.
I propose that every country pass a law that states that corporations must send there employee's to overseas to fight for their corporate interests. We should also begin confiscation corporate assets, in the US and abroad to the extent that it covers the social and environmental damage that corporations inflict on the US citizen.
This argument about how the US has higher taxes is rediculous. Only a stockholder or employee of the corporation could back the broken logic that US corporations pay too much in taxes. Wake the fuck up.
It is a fact that the US has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. What makes you think it is ridiculous to state that?
If corporations inflict social and environmental damage on citizens, whose fault is that? I would look to Washington. It is the government's responsibility to set rules and regulations to protect the American citizens. So because the politicians abdicated their responsibilities, corporate assets should just be seized? Now that is ridiculous. If the government actually did that, how long do you think it would take before every major corporation left the USA? Get real. The truth is, it is the corporations who finance the election campaigns so the politicians will not dare to oppose them. You sir, are the one who needs to wake the fuck up!
Who own Washington? And please don't respond with "the people".
Corporate taxes: http://www.cfr.org/tax-policy/crs-international-corporate-tax-rate-compa...
Hmmm....let's see. We send our men and women overseas to die fighting for the 'rights of corporations'.
I propose that every country pass a law that states that corporations must send there employee's to overseas to fight for their corporate interests. We should also begin confiscation corporate assets, in the US and abroad to the extent that it covers the social and environmental damage that corporations inflict on the US citizen.
This argument about how the US has higher taxes is rediculous. Only a stockholder or employee of the corporation could back the broken logic that US corporations pay too much in taxes. Wake the fuck up.
When the bankers start to abandon US, it will be the beginning of US end. Then US will be stripped off the money.
The Great Warren Buffett Hoax
The latest in the great American tax evasion scams continues on, with the latest corporation inverting (buying a foreign subsidiary and claiming that as their new corporate HQ to avoid American taxes) is Burger King.
Several years back, Warren Buffett, together with President Obama, loudly declared that the super-rich should pay their taxes, a most peculiar sentiment for someone whose corporation had been in tax court for many years fighting to avoid paying any federal taxes (they owe billions in back taxes).
From Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett
Most strange for someone who has carefully avoided paying taxes ever since he was a youth: Filing his first income tax return in 1944, Buffett took a $35 deduction for the use of his bicycle and watch on his paper route.
Buffett very well knows that the tax system is structured to favor and profit the super-rich while penalizing the working people of America, and that the likelihood of altering it is the very same as the likelihood of moving our solar system to a different quadrant of the galaxy --- an obvious impossibility!
Buffett was the same guy who was in the original bunch who lobbied for the adoption of credit derivatives, yet would later claim that they were "economic weapons of mass destruction" and then further lobbying against any and all oversight of credit derivatives during the creation of that so-called Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation!
Of course, Buffett is the son of a crafty US congressman, so he knows all about the buying and selling of congress critters, something which he is quite adept at doing.
Every tax dodge imaginable is routinely undertaken by Buffett and his business enterprises, and the very latest one?
Why, Buffett is financing that Burger King inversion to avoid paying taxes, naturally!
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/warren-buffett-pay-3b-burger-king-buy-tim-hortons-article-1.1918034
Always beware those misdirection specialists (don't look here, look over there): Warren Buffett, Noam Chomsky, Kevin Phillips, Peter G. Peterson, Jeremy Rifkin, etc., etc., etc.
How is it that at 39% tax rate GE receives millions in return??
Meh. Must be my math. My bad.
I'm curious what the ZeroHedge commenters do for a living? Is everyone on here a business owner? I wish I could jump ship but we all can't sell firewood on the sidewalks.
signed: ~stuck here 4 life