Pirates of the Caribbean: Offshore corporate cash hoard1 trillion $

[Ichingcarpenter]

Paging Captain Jack Sparrow. The modern equivalent of pirate treasure islands is holding some $1 trillion of corporate cash by U.S. corporations.

The reason is simple: U.S. corporations don’t have to pay U.S. taxes on the money when it’s sitting in offshore banks. They can defer taxes indefinitely.
While domestic corporations are free to enjoy the many benefits of American infrastructure, the money they offshore isn’t doing North Americans any good. Bring the money back to create jobs and give corporations a reduced tax rate if they do so. It will also trim the U.S. budget deficit.

One tack that doesn’t work for the middle class is to give corporations another no-strings-attached break for just bringing the money back. Companies shouldn’t be rewarded for being forced to do the right thing. It’s like paying a bonus to get a driver’s license.
Besides, the repatriation break has been tried and was a bust. “A `tax holiday’ on repatriated funds is a proven failure,” writes William Gale and Benjamin Harris of the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. “It was already tried in 2004 and it didn’t work.”

http://blogs.reuters.com/reuters-wealth/2011/07/08/pirates-of-the-caribbean-alert-offshore-corporate-cash-hoard/

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. The last $312 billion tax holiday was a bonanza for corporate

The last $312 billion tax holiday was a bonanza for corporate shareholders that resulted in little or no North American investment and almost no job creation. “Even firms that showed some evidence of being financially constrained or that explicitly lobbied for the tax holiday did not increase domestic investment, domestic employment or R&D,” wrote three researchers for the National Bureau for Economic Research last yea

[Long Shadow]

2. "Companies shouldn’t be rewarded for being forced to do the right thing."

The right thing for who?

One of the problems for companies that operate both in the US and abroad is double taxation. They certainly wouldn't be doing the right thing for the owners (shareholders) by paying their taxes twice. In fact, it would demonstrate a total lack of judgement.

[eShirl]

3. .

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. ????? .???

Maybe you could decrypt your message a little more

[eShirl]

5. I'll just delete it

to much effort to try to explain myself this early in the morning

[Quantess]

9. I saw your post before you deleted it.

It made perfect sense to me. But then, it's already 4pm here, so maybe both of you were too groggy in the morning, there in the USA. :)

[Quantess]

6. Always having to impress / please the shareholders.

Thanks for the cynical reminder.

[Sal Minella]

7. Obviously, the corporations need to pull themselves back within

U.S. borders and pay taxes only ONCE then, right?

How foolish it was of the attorneys to suggest offshoring in the first place, putting the poor corporations at risk of paying taxes twice!!! Silly, silly lawyers.

Everybody knows how terrible taxes are in the Caymans -- that's why there are so many U.S. businesses doing business in post office boxes there.

btw "judgment" doesn't have an "e" in the middle. You're welcome.

[malaise]

8. Love the OPs title

Perfect