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Omaha Steve

(99,079 posts)
Wed Apr 17, 2013, 10:33 PM Apr 2013

Group says major companies involved in tax scheme

Source: AP-Excite

By DON BABWIN

CHICAGO (AP) - A Chicago-area transportation agency on Wednesday alleged that some of the nation's largest and best known companies including AT&T, Sears Holdings Corp., Verizon and Target are running "sham" offices as part of a scheme with two small northern Illinois communities to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes in Chicago and Cook County.

The Regional Transportation Authority released the names of companies or their subsidiaries that it contends have dozens of small offices in Kankakee and Channahon - some upstairs from a cash for gold business and a hair braiding shop - where it says little if any work is done and often nobody so much as answers a knock on the door. And in many cases, according to the RTA, there are no signs on the street or office directories in the buildings that identify these companies as tenants.

"Whatever work they are doing is just enough to create a sham office in order for these sales transactions to be cited to these cities," said Jordan Matyas, the RTA's chief of staff. "In some places you have 20 companies procuring millions of dollars in goods from these offices where there is minimal staff doing minimal work."

The release of the names Wednesday is the latest chapter in a legal battle between the RTA and small communities over tax incentive programs that the agency characterizes as a scam and the communities defend as sound and legal strategies that provide funds they desperately need to provide city services.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130417/DA5NJ0882.html





This undated photo provided by the Regional Transportation Authority in Chicago shows a cash for gold business shop in Kankakee, Ill., that the Chicago area transportation agency alleged Wednesday, April 17, 2013, is a "sham" office, one of dozens set up in a scheme by major companies or their subsidiaries, including AT&T, Land’s End, Target and Southwest Airlines, in the Northern Illinois communities of Channahon and Kankakee to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes in Chicago and Cook County. The RTA, which relies on sales taxes for funds, has sued the two communities. (AP Photo/Regional Transportation Authority)

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Group says major companies involved in tax scheme (Original Post) Omaha Steve Apr 2013 OP
Interesting ... DirkGently Apr 2013 #1
It saddens me that Southwest is one. The rest don't surprise me. emsimon33 Apr 2013 #2
Southwest? defacto7 Apr 2013 #4
They're named in the blurb under the photo. brett_jv Apr 2013 #6
Ah... I missed it.. went to the article and didn't see it there. defacto7 Apr 2013 #8
This Is The Same Story Bernie Sanders Tells Only On A Smaller City/State Basis..... global1 Apr 2013 #3
Sounds like a building housing nothing defacto7 Apr 2013 #5
Bernie friggin RULES ... brett_jv Apr 2013 #7
Where do I get one of these minimal work jobs? nt caseymoz Apr 2013 #9
Typical business as usual in the USA, land of the corrupt capitalists Coyotl Apr 2013 #10
k&r avaistheone1 Apr 2013 #11
Ahhh corporate capitalism ...can ya smell it? L0oniX Apr 2013 #12
Tax cheats abound. lark Apr 2013 #13

defacto7

(13,485 posts)
4. Southwest?
Wed Apr 17, 2013, 10:56 PM
Apr 2013

You mean Airlines? Got any links, or are they part of the companies mentioned in the article?

brett_jv

(1,245 posts)
6. They're named in the blurb under the photo.
Wed Apr 17, 2013, 11:03 PM
Apr 2013

Didn't read the article itself, but presumably that blurb comes from the article.

Anyways, not surprising to hear something like this, and I'd bet dollars to donuts that the RTA is spot on. What confuses me is ... why THEM? What 'relation' do they have to whole situation? They're not a 'law enforcement', 'justice', or even a 'tax collecting' outfit, are they? So my question is ... why does it come down to the RTA to expose something of this nature I wonder?

defacto7

(13,485 posts)
8. Ah... I missed it.. went to the article and didn't see it there.
Wed Apr 17, 2013, 11:12 PM
Apr 2013

Wonder where the blurb info comes from? It doesn't matter I guess because the fact that companies are doing this is no surprise to me.

I agree, why not the DOJ? No.. that doesn't surprise me either. Anyway, Illinois is considered one of the most corrupt states in America as I have read it though I have no links.

global1

(25,169 posts)
3. This Is The Same Story Bernie Sanders Tells Only On A Smaller City/State Basis.....
Wed Apr 17, 2013, 10:55 PM
Apr 2013



In 2010, Bank of America set up more than 200 subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands (which has a corporate tax rate of 0.0 percent) to avoid paying U.S. taxes. It worked. Not only did Bank of America pay nothing in federal income taxes, but it received a rebate from the IRS worth $1.9 billion that year. They are not alone. In 2010, JP Morgan Chase operated 83 subsidiaries incorporated in offshore tax havens to avoid paying some $4.9 billion in U.S. taxes. That same year Goldman Sachs operated 39 subsidiaries in offshore tax havens to avoid an estimated $3.3 billion in U.S. taxes. Citigroup has paid no federal income taxes for the last four years after receiving a total of $2.5 trillion in financial assistance from the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis.

On and on it goes. Wall Street banks and large companies love America when they need corporate welfare. But when it comes to paying American taxes or American wages, they want nothing to do with this country. That has got to change.

Offshore tax abuse is not just limited to Wall Street. Each and every year corporations and the wealthy are avoiding more than $100 billion in U.S. taxes by sheltering their income offshore.

Pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly and Pfizer have fought to make it illegal for the American people to buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and Europe. But, during tax season, Eli Lilly and Pfizer shift drug patents and profits to the Netherlands and other offshore tax havens to avoid paying U.S. taxes.

Offshore tax schemes have become so absurd that one five-story office building in the Cayman Islands is now the "home" to more than 18,000 corporations.

This tax avoidance does not just reduce the revenue that we need to pay for education, healthcare, roads, and environmental protection, it is also costing us millions of American jobs. Today, companies are using these same tax schemes to lower their tax bills by shipping American jobs and factories abroad. These tax breaks have contributed to the loss of more than 5 million U.S. manufacturing jobs and the closure of more than 56,000 factories since 2000. That also has got to change.

These corporations know all the tricks. I'm glad the RTA in Chicago is taking them on.
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