Posted on 06/21/2016 4:29:00 PM PDT by HomerBohn
(MAY 10: Sens. Al Franken, D-Minn., center, and Chris Coons, D-Del., make their way to a new conference in the Capitol with Democratic members of the Committee to accept the delivery of a questionnaire and documents from Merrick Garland, nominee to the Supreme Court, May 10, 2016)
If you think that multinational corporations take measures to avoid paying your country's taxes, you have two ways to deal with it. You could reform your tax code so that the incentive to avoid taxation disappears. Or, you could go the route of Stuart Smalley. From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota is among a group of senators who want U.S. multinational corporations to publicly name the countries where they book profits.
In a recent letter to the secretary of the Treasury, Franken and several colleagues called for country-by-country disclosure of foreign profits as a way to head off accounting maneuvers many corporations use to redirect revenue from countries where they are earned to tax havens.
"Multinational companies tend to make these bogus transactions where they want to book as much profit in the low-tax countries and have as little profit in the high-tax countries," Franken said. "It's eroding the tax base of the developed world."
Minnesota multinationals were generally nonresponsive to Star Tribune requests for comment on the transparency measure. Medtronic, St. Jude Medical and 3M declined to comment, while an Ecolab spokesman said the company "complies with all tax regulations and pays taxes in the countries where the income is earned."
"We would prefer to see effort toward comprehensive corporate tax reform to create a system which eliminates the need for companies to keep money offshore to remain competitive," spokesman Roman Blahoski added.
The cost of a draconian effort to extract taxes through inquisition, both in terms of operational expense and depressed economic activity, has to eclipse any revenue which it might generate. To the extent multinationals shift money around to avoid taxes, the effort would only be worth it if tax rates remain noncompetitive. Fix the rates, and get the revenue.
Indeed, research has shown that reduced tax rates can result in higher revenue than that collected under higher tax rates. Of course, for people like Franken, it's not actually about the revenue. It's about punishing success under the premise that it was achieved through exploitation.
This is what this pitiful nation gets when fools elect a failed comedy writer to Congress. If had been a good comedy writer it might be less painful for him to struggle with basic math.
We have the highest tax rates on the planet. Trump is proposing a 15% corporate tax. Hey Al...15% of something is MORE than 35% of nothing!
Ireland.
Duh.
If you bring it back here you have to give 35% to the Government.
No company is that stupid.
Why would anyone ever hire an American? With what cash? Keep it overseas.
Whose the democrat with the racist name?
Sounds like a good reason to be one of the low-tax countries, ya stupid git!
Senators Want Companies to Reveal Where They Keep Their Cash
It's a mile past Nunya Business. If you hit Go Screw Yourself, you've gone too far.
All of the politicians disclose all of their sources of money first.
And any and all business dealings with guvment. See Pelosi and Clinton for examples.
Absolutely!
“”””SENATOR Al Franken! He’s a walking testament to the idiotic voters in the Peoples’ Republic of Minnesota! A washed-up phony comedian who now gets a paycheck thanks to the clueless ones who vote there. “”””
Sad, ain’t it? He was born in New York, lived here for awhile as a kid and left in 1969 never to return....until he pretended to be a Minnesotan and got elected TWICE by the same maroons who voted for hussein. Of course the media, ministry of propaganda, helped him every step of the way.
And before he bashes other companies about cheating on taxes, maybe he could explain why the state of New York sued him for failure to pay Workers Comp for his own employees.
OK, Mr. Senator! We’ll do it! But, first you show us your financial records!
Great minds!
Where does Al Franken keep his cash?
Probably shoved up his enormous backside.
Dear Senators:
I keep my cash in my pants. The cash is guarded by a big ugly worm that spits...
I wonder how Mr. Brennan is doing today?
Alluha ackbar!
5.56mm
Add to that a corrupt Minnesota Secretary of State who openly palled around with local Communists and was bought and paid for by Gyorgy Schwartz.
I lived in Minnestoopid for 10 years. People there think that companies hoard their money in a vault like Scrooge McDuck. No concept of what it takes to run a business and meet a payroll.
Well with the recent USSC decision that states an arrest (and search) made with no known warrant and no probable cause is still valid if, later, there's an outstanding warrant then this makes perfect sense. (Think Civil Asset Forfeiture with essentially Writs of Assistance to find some felony to prove that it was a-ok all along.)
+1
Gives new meaning to “filthy lucre”.
Politicians have no right to demand how much you make, where you make it and where you keep it.
None of their effin’ business!
Democrats cheated to get fat Al his seat.
I think congress needs to list ALL their assets.
Let’s make the Senators publish where they keep their cash.
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