[Willie Green]

bacause a business that is taxed, simply passes the tax on to the consumer (read me).

Food for thought:

In a competitive market, prices are determined strictly by supply and demand in the marketplace. Taxes, therefore, cannot be merely "passed along" to the consumer unless companies enjoy noncompetitive monopolistic or oligopolistic control over the market. Corporate income taxes are merely government confiscation of a portion of the profits (if any). They are not a "cost" that can be passed along to the consumer.

[Lokibob]

General Motors, when pricing the new models, has to include taxes as the cost of doing business. Otherwise, at the end of the year, the bottom line COULD show that they sold each automobile at a loss. Fortunately for them and every other manufacturer, they all pay taxes, so the price can be set with that in mind.

I think we both are saying the same thing, proving my point that the offshore companies have an advantage in the market place.