Clausing found that by 2012, the annual revenue cost to
the US government due to corporate tax dodging had amounted to $77-111
billion. For the world as a whole, she estimated revenue losses to be
above $280 billion. (Last year, IMF economists
Ernesto Crivelli, Ruud De Mooij, and Michael Keen estimated that
developing countries lose $105 billion each year due to tax base
erosion)....The report, a financial analysis of America’s 50
largest public companies—multinational corporations like Alphabet,
Apple, Goldman Sachs, and Disney—details an “opaque and secretive
network” of 1,608 disclosed subsidiaries based in tax havens like the
Cayman Islands, in addition to thousands of additional subsidiaries that
these companies “may have failed to disclose to the Securities and
Exchange Commission due to weak reporting requirements.”
The US Government Loses As Much As $111 Billion Annually Due to Corporate Tax Dodging -
I am not surprised by these numbers at all. The wealthy want to avoid taxes as much as possible. However, government spending and government programs are key to the success of the economy and the United States as a whole. These large companies do not want to lose the money they are making and only think about that when placing their political views about taxes and government programs. These companies have enough money to help the economy and I just don't understand why they are going through so many hoops to avoid funding the economy.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rachel. This has been happening all the time. It seems like Christine Lagarde, IMF chief, promotes financial transparency among multinational companies to stop tax avoidance. I feel like this kind of attempts had been tried, but I still doubt whether IMF can push large companies. Both Clinton and Sanders support changes in the current tax system in order to make large companies pay their fair share. If one of them becomes president, we can count on him/her...?
ReplyDeleteLike Rachel said, this is not surprising. However, it made me think of those governement subsidiaries going into big corporations at their small cost of federal taxes. Is the government simply allowing such tax havens with loose regulations by SEC and even subsidiaries, because corporations lobbied so much or because helping those top 50 or so is more beneficial to the economy, rather than redistributing income to the newly rising firms? For example, helping the big company will likely to result in profits in trillions, instead of small companies making some kind of millions of dollars.
ReplyDeleteIs the government doing so because they see the big picture? Or is it all related to politics at the end?
This situation is inevitable unless politicians are totally apart from bribing and lobbying. However, the waiver amount of the U.S. government towards corporations is really amazing for me.
ReplyDeleteThis situation is inevitable unless politicians are totally apart from bribing and lobbying. However, the waiver amount of the U.S. government towards corporations is really amazing for me.
ReplyDelete