Tag: Tax avoidance

Leftie Hypocrisy Award Goes To Warren Buffett

~ Pharmer

Buffett’s Billion-Dollar Tax Hypocrisy | NetRight Daily.

Warren Buffet recently made the news by suggesting that the rich should pay more taxes, and that he wouldn’t mind paying more.

The problem is that his company is currently attempting to avoid paying taxes to the IRS, and there may be up to a billion dollars  of outstanding taxes owed  by his company to the IRS, or in dispute.

Berkshire Hathaway struggled for 14 years with the IRS over the dividends received deduction, which was finally settled in the company’s favor in 2005.

For at least 20 years, and probably much longer,  Buffett has been struggling to minimize his company’s taxes.

Why is Buffett not able to practice what he preaches?

The Homies Want A Bigger Piece of Bono’s Pie

~ Pharmer

‘Saint Bono’ facing huge Glastonbury protest ¿ for avoiding tax | Mail Online.

Art Uncut, an Irish activist group,  is whining at Bono, of the richest Rockers-  U2, because he has outsourced the publishing part of his industry  outside of Ireland, ostensibly for the purpose of minimizing taxes.

Bono’s a leftie of course, and has made a name for himself by espousing charitable causes in the third world.  There will be a protest at the Glastonbury festival demanding that Bono “Pay UP”  as the poor of Ireland are suffering.

U2  has also been criticized in the past,  by politicians, for moving parts of their business to the Netherlands, while at the same time urging their own  government to do more for the poor.

 

Government Electric Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether – NYTimes.com

~ Pharmer

G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether – NYTimes.com.

Jeffrey Immelt has a special position as Obama’s Liaison to the Business Community, and as Chairman of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

Immelt’s Company, General Electric is numero uno among U.S. corporations in Tax Avoidance.  Their net payout on (5 billion in profit) to the IRS is Zero.

The company has managed to balance it’s financial statements of profit from the U.S. and abroad so as to be paying zero U.S. taxes.

These kinds of strategies are out of reach for normal U.S. taxpayers, and of course we are not serving on Obama’s special committees.  So we do not have most favored Tax Status. Ronald Reagan had noticed such outsized advantages for large corporations and eliminated many loopholes, while drastically lowering the tax rates for everyone.  In succeeding decades  the large entities regained much of their preferential tax advantages.

In the last 8 years, GE has reduced US employment by 20 percent and has increased overseas employment.  Cumulative overseas profits have increased from $15 billion to $92 billion in that period.   Declaring profits in countries with much lower taxes than the U.S. is highly beneficial to the bottom line

Wouldn’t you like to be multinational too?