skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Corporations Avoid $600 Billion in U.S. Taxes by Using Tax Havens

play audio
Play

Monday, April 20, 2015   

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Congressional hearings in the past few years made headlines exposing how Apple and Microsoft moved money overseas to avoid paying U.S. taxes. But as a new report shows, these name-brand companies aren't alone.

Matt Gardner, executive director with the Institute on Taxation and Public Policy, says companies that we know use offshore tax havens include Nike, Safeway, American Express, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, the pharmaceutical giant Amgen, and the list goes on. He says the impact on the U.S. Treasury is significant.

"If these companies paid the U.S. taxes that they ought to be paying on this income, we'd be talking about $600 billion," says Gardner.

At the end of 2014, 304 Fortune 500 companies collectively held more than $2 trillion in countries such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas, places which Gardner points out provide very little in the way of real business opportunities for American corporations such as Qualcomm, Safeway and Microsoft.

Gardner adds, many corporations that fail to disclose whether their offshore holdings are tax havens are the same ones lobbying Congress to enact a temporary "tax holiday" or a permanent exemption for offshore income. He says both proposals would only reward companies for shifting profits overseas, and that average Americans would end up footing the bill.

"When corporations don't pay their fair share, really the impact is that the rest of us, middle-income families and small businesses, pay more to make up the difference," he says.

The report recommends that Congress act sooner than later to put a stop to tax havens. Gardner says 77 of the companies surveyed increased their declared offshore cash by at least $500 million each in the last year alone.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021