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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumClinton / DLC / Third Way Administration created the largest Corp Tax Avoidence Scam in History
It always gives me a pretty good chuckle when I see Hillary stumping against "Corporate Inversions" and the latest Multinational Tax Avoidance Scam circumventing the United States Tax laws. If not for her husband's DLC / Third Way policies in the mid 90s the majority of Multinational Corporate Tax Avoidance would not be possible.
This was the first Yuuuge Corporate Tax Loop Hole a Clinton administration designed into the Federal Tax code
The analysis reveals that the biggest names in corporate America are boycotting the U.S. tax system, en masse. Top offenders include giants from high-tech (Microsoft, $76 billion); Big Pharma (Pfizer, $69 billion); Big Oil (ExxonMobil, $47 billion); investment banks (Goldman Sachs, $22 billion); Big Tobacco (Philip Morris, $20 billion); discount retailers (Wal-Mart, $19 billion); fast-food chains (McDonald's, $16 billion) even heavy machinery (Caterpillar, $17 billion). General Electric has $110 billion stashed offshore, and enjoys an effective tax rate of four percent 31 points lower than its statutory obligation to the IRS.
The Kennedy-era reforms kept corporate tax avoidance substantially in check through both Democratic and Republican administrations. Even Reagan cracked down on multinational tax dodgers with the tax reform of 1986. But changes in recent years including one in 1997 and another in 2006 have, according to a recent Senate investigation, "nearly completely undercut" the ability of the Treasury to tax the paperwork profits of multinationals. The original sin was committed by the Clinton Treasury then led by Robert Rubin, later a top executive at Citigroup and a major player in the subprime mortgage crisis. In 1997, Treasury changed regulations to permit corporations to decide for themselves which subsidiaries were relevant for tax purposes, simply by ticking off a box on a tax form. But these changes, intended to simplify the tax code, also opened a colossal loophole.
By telling the IRS to treat certain offshore subsidiaries as "disregarded entities" a.k.a. "tax nothings" corporate accountants could divert and mask passive income, making it untaxable abroad. "I don't think they realized how much check-the-box would lubricate international tax avoidance," says Kleinbard.
For a brief moment, Treasury sought to reverse course. But lobbyists from firms including Monsanto, Morgan Stanley, IBM and Philip Morris locked arms to defend their de facto tax cut. The Clinton Treasury backed down. Soon, some administration officials took a spin through the revolving door raising troubling questions about the relationship between corporate America and its regulators. William Morris, who became the Clinton Treasury's associate international tax counsel around the time the regulations were enacted, jumped to GE, where today he orchestrates the firm's global tax policy.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-biggest-tax-scam-ever-20140827?page=2
The Kennedy-era reforms kept corporate tax avoidance substantially in check through both Democratic and Republican administrations. Even Reagan cracked down on multinational tax dodgers with the tax reform of 1986. But changes in recent years including one in 1997 and another in 2006 have, according to a recent Senate investigation, "nearly completely undercut" the ability of the Treasury to tax the paperwork profits of multinationals. The original sin was committed by the Clinton Treasury then led by Robert Rubin, later a top executive at Citigroup and a major player in the subprime mortgage crisis. In 1997, Treasury changed regulations to permit corporations to decide for themselves which subsidiaries were relevant for tax purposes, simply by ticking off a box on a tax form. But these changes, intended to simplify the tax code, also opened a colossal loophole.
By telling the IRS to treat certain offshore subsidiaries as "disregarded entities" a.k.a. "tax nothings" corporate accountants could divert and mask passive income, making it untaxable abroad. "I don't think they realized how much check-the-box would lubricate international tax avoidance," says Kleinbard.
For a brief moment, Treasury sought to reverse course. But lobbyists from firms including Monsanto, Morgan Stanley, IBM and Philip Morris locked arms to defend their de facto tax cut. The Clinton Treasury backed down. Soon, some administration officials took a spin through the revolving door raising troubling questions about the relationship between corporate America and its regulators. William Morris, who became the Clinton Treasury's associate international tax counsel around the time the regulations were enacted, jumped to GE, where today he orchestrates the firm's global tax policy.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-biggest-tax-scam-ever-20140827?page=2
But that wasn't enough to satisfy the Clinton Administration's corporate donors. The REAL Money was in "Transference of Intellectual Property Rights" This allows Silicon Valley's Mega Multinationals to avoid taxes on $Billions in Licensing and Royalties fees while still receiving Federal Tax breaks for the R&D cost to develop the technology - they get us "Coming and Going"
It is the largest world trade agreement in history, Clinton told a congressional delegation at the White House Sept. 20. It will provide a global tax cut of $740 billion, reducing tariffs worldwide by more than a third.
https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal94-1102970
https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal94-1102970
Once again with Hillary by his side ....
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Clinton / DLC / Third Way Administration created the largest Corp Tax Avoidence Scam in History (Original Post)
FreakinDJ
Mar 2016
OP
Thanks so much for posting this; I'm adding this to my rap sheet document. nt
VulgarPoet
Mar 2016
#1
VulgarPoet
(2,872 posts)1. Thanks so much for posting this; I'm adding this to my rap sheet document. nt
think
(11,641 posts)2. Side note: The Clinton Foundation owns the historical records for the DLC
JudyM
(29,185 posts)4. Whoa. Every angle. Nt
amborin
(16,631 posts)5. this needs wide exposure
DanTex
(20,709 posts)6. LOL. Y'all are reeeeeaally scraping these days.
FreakinDJ
(17,644 posts)7. Make sense Hillary supporters would favor Huge Tax Breaks for Corporations
I mean sure - its been the Clinton's DLC/Third Way political position all along
Too bad the middle class is disappearing in this country