To modernize our infrastructure the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates we need to invest about $3.6 trillion by 2020. It's not going to happen, in part because of how corporate America dodges their tax bill by dumping their profits in offshore tax havens.
From the Center for Effective Government we learn just how much corporate tax havens cost our nation. They take a look at how our underfunded infrastructure could benefit from more tax revenue:
1. HOW MUCH?: 26 firms account for more than half of the $2.1 trillion in untaxed profits U.S. corporations currently hold offshore ... Together, these 26 firms operate 1,086 subsidiaries in tax haven nations around the world.
2. WORST CULPRITS (recently)?: Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Qualcomm each grew their offshore stashes by more than twenty-fold between 2005 and 2014.
3. WHAT IF THE WORST CULPRITS PAID?: If the worst culprits were to pay the taxes they owe ($364 billion) on "overseas" profits created through tax havens we could repair all of the country’s wastewater and stormwater systems ... repair or replace all of the country’s deficient dams ... and restore all the nation's local, state, and national parks.
4. WHAT IF WE CLOSED ALL TAX HAVENS?: Closing the offshore tax dodging loopholes for ALL corporations could raise at least $590 billion over the next decade, and $90 billion more every year thereafter. This would represent a significant down payment on the nation’s overall infrastructure investment needs.
Personally, I like what Russia's Peter the Great did when he felt that the nation's richest citizens weren't pulling their weight.
In all cases, there's work to be done but our U.S. Congress is still too busy saying No to President Obama for tax fairness and the needs of our nation to matter.
- Mark
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