Monday, February 11, 2013

CORPORATE TAX DODGERS

Courtesey of the U.S. Senate, but mainly Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), we get: "Meet the Top Wall Street and Corporate Tax Dodgers" ...


Here's one example of 31 cases illustrating how corporations in general and Wall Street banks in specific have significantly harmed our economy and the federal budget:

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan.
Number of Offshore Tax Havens in 2010? 371.
In 2010, Bank of America operated 371 subsidiaries incorporated in offshore tax havens. 204 of these subsidiaries are incorporated in the Cayman Islands, which has a corporate tax rate of 0%. 
Amount of federal income taxes Bank of America would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $2.5 billion.
Bank of America has stashed $18.5 billion in offshore tax havens to avoid paying U.S. income taxes.  Bank of America would owe an estimated $2.5 billion in federal income taxes if its use of offshore tax avoidance was eliminated.  
Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2010? Zero. $1.9 billion tax refund.
Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS in 2010, even though it made $4.4 billion in profits. 
Taxpayer Bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department? Over $1.3 trillion.
During the financial crisis, Bank of America received a total of more than $1.3 trillion in virtually zero interest loans from the Federal Reserve and a $45 billion bailout from the Treasury Department.

Read the report to learn about another 30 tax dodgers who use tax gimmicks and off shore accounts to evade the same tax responsibilities that you and I cannot avoid (because we don't have access to the Cayman Islands and million dollar tax lawyers). You can also go here to get a synopsis of the report, or here and here for additional information on the topic.

At the end of the day, as the report makes clear. "Instead of cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans’ benefits, it is time for these corporate and Wall Street tax dodgers to pay their fair share in taxes and bring jobs back home to America."

Pretty simple.

- Mark 

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