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Exclusive: U.S. taxpayers' virus relief went to firms that avoided U.S. tax
Reuters ^ | May 28, 2020 | by Tom Bergin, Lawrence Delevingne

Posted on 05/28/2020 7:03:11 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

LONDON/BOSTON - Last month Zagg Inc, a Utah-based company that makes mobile device accessories, received more than $9.4 million in cash from a U.S. government program that has provided emergency loans to millions of businesses hit by the coronavirus.

The money was part of the $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) - a linchpin of President Donald Trump’s economic rescue package, meant to save small firms convulsed by the pandemic and help them to keep workers on the payroll.

Claimants certified the loans were necessary to support their business and received an average of $115,000 as of May 26, according to the Small Business Administration, which administers the program. Nasdaq-listed Zagg’s loan was more than 80 times that amount.

That wasn’t the only help Zagg had from the government lately. Last year, the company received a $3.3 million tax refund and racked up U.S. tax credits worth $7 million, its filings show. It made $6 million profit for 2019, but paid no tax in the United States.

Zagg booked its profit through companies in Ireland and the Cayman Islands, its filings show.

The company’s situation is one of several that reveal a previously unreported aspect of the government relief program: The fund is giving millions of dollars in American taxpayer money to a number of firms that have avoided paying U.S. tax, a Reuters examination found.

In all, Reuters’ analysis of public data found around 110 publicly traded companies have each received $4 million or more in emergency aid from the program.

Of those subject to taxes, 12 of the companies recently used offshore havens to cut their tax bills, the analysis found. All together, these 12 received more than $104 million in loans from U.S. taxpayers. Seven of them paid no U.S. tax at all for the past year.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: pandemic; ppp; taxes
If these companies complied with our complex IRS code, more power to them. Otherwise, change the tax code or stop bitching.
1 posted on 05/28/2020 7:03:11 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The media, if reporting this at all, would only care because Trump’s name is associated with the relief. If it were a Democrat, nothing would be reported. In fact, the companies involved would be big Democrat donors.


2 posted on 05/28/2020 7:07:11 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

So what... stimulus checks went to people who don’t pay taxes while those of us paying the most didn’t get one...


3 posted on 05/28/2020 7:11:19 AM PDT by TexasGunLover
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

you’re right.

me and you BOTH will use the cayman island to pay No tax and get a refund!! :)

Changing the tax code is important.

But this isn’t about bitching. It’s about companies cheating the US out of taxes and money

but i know you are set in your ways of thinking.

As am I :)


4 posted on 05/28/2020 7:12:12 AM PDT by dp0622 (Radicals N racists dont point ftingers at me I'm a small town white boy Just tryin to make ends meet)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Well...some lucky individuals have received multiple $1200 stimulus checks. Too bad for all of us with no such luck.


5 posted on 05/28/2020 7:22:41 AM PDT by entropy12 (covid-19 separates the fearful from the freedom loving! If I am not afraid, no one should be.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“If these companies complied with our complex IRS code, more power to them. Otherwise, change the tax code or stop bitching.”

I agree with the sentiment, however the tax convoluted tax code is the result of legislation, and so is the recent “stimulus” money. THAT law could have specified payments as only going to companies that had a positive net federal income tax payment for either 2019 or 1st qtr 2020, whichever was their latest filing.

A “needy” company is not, in my book, one that plays the tax code game as opposed to one that is productive and normally profitable without doing so.


6 posted on 05/28/2020 7:27:45 AM PDT by Wuli (Get)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The Kennedy Center and the LA Lakers received grants & loans. My friend’s small business is destroyed.


7 posted on 05/28/2020 7:28:43 AM PDT by wny
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To: dp0622

There was no cheating, just compliance.

And no company pays taxes.

They gather taxes from customers.


8 posted on 05/28/2020 7:38:07 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (I'd rather be anecdotally alive than scientifically dead...)
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