Corporations Shifted A Half-Trillion Dollars To Offshore Tax Havens In 2012: Panama Papers
Source: International Business Times
Panama Papers: Corporations Shifted A Half-Trillion Dollars To Offshore Tax Havens In 2012
BY CLARK MINDOCK @CLARKMINDOCK AND DAVID SIROTA @DAVIDSIROTA ON
04/11/16 AT 1:37 PM
With the recent release of millions of secret documents from a Panama law firm that helps corporations and wealthy individuals reduce their tax liability, the spotlight is trained anew on tax avoidance. Companies with offshore outposts typically argue that those subsidiaries serve a legitimate business purpose. But now, on the heels of the global Panama Papers scandal, a new report suggests that in many cases the primary goal must be tax avoidance.
According to a review of the most recent IRS data by the watchdog group Citizens for Tax Justice, American corporations in 2012 housed more than a half-trillion dollars' worth of profits in just 10 small nations. The group said the smoking-gun proof that the schemes are about tax avoidance comes from Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas and Luxembourg, where the profits reported by U.S. corporations were larger than the entire reported gross domestic product of those countries.
"It is obviously impossible for American corporations to earn profits in a given country that exceed that country’s total output of goods and services," the report concluded. "Clearly, American corporations are using various tax gimmicks to shift profits earned in the U.S. and other countries where they do the bulk of their business into their subsidiaries in these tiny countries that impose little or no tax on corporate profits."
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The way this process works is fairly simple on a macro level. Corporations set up affiliated shell companies in countries where taxes are low or nonexistent and reroute payments and liabilities to serve their needs. For instance, the car service Uber processes payments outside of the United States through its shell corporation in Bermuda, a tax haven with a 0 percent tax rate, where it then posts its profits. That leaves less than 2 percent of its net revenue taxable by the United States, according to Bloomberg.
Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/panama-papers-corporations-shifted-half-trillion-dollars-offshore-tax-havens-2012-2351814
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If you research the history, every move has been predictable, the "reaching across the aisle" BS, the "Professional left" BS, the Status Quo and incremental changes, etc....
It's been since before Bill and now everyone wants to elect a Pro Corporate President?
Fucking up is down, black is white, and she'll help the people. 
So much for grade school common sense. I really don't know when and why it ceases to exist for some people.
