Between 2008 and 2013, American firms held more than $2.1 trillion in profits overseas—that's as much as $500 billion in unpaid taxes.
Accumulated offshore profits at end of 2013:
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General Electric: $110 billion | |||
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Microsoft: $76.4 billion | |||
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Pfizer: $69 billion | |||
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Apple: $54.4 billion | |||
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Exxon Mobil: $48 billion | |||
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Citigroup: $43.8 billion | |||
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Google: $38.9 billion | |||
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Goldman Sachs: $22 billion | |||
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Walmart: $19 billion | |||
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McDonald's: $16 billion |
It's pretty difficult for most normal mortals to get their heads around figures like these, so let's try and give a bit of perspective:
With a world population of approximately 7 billion the $2.1 trillion profits shared between them would equal around $300 each.
With a population of approximately 300 million US citizens sharing $500 billion of those unpaid taxes each would pocket around $1,500.
The Socialist Party's position on this is not to suggest any kind of repatriation of the money for tax purposes or to share it out among the people or even to use it for any kind of welfare but to demonstrate that the capitalist system as a whole is quite simply cheating the people in any manner they can come up with. Let's face it the whole wages system is a cheat, allowing employers to cream off profits from what workers have produced. Rather than lay the blame at the feet of these companies, where we'd be missing the point, what's needed is a much stronger push to get more people to understand that this is only one way that those who uphold the capitalist system manipulate any possibilities to their own advantage and against majority interest.
Abolishing capitalism means abolishing wage slavery and all the negatives that go with it. Abolish capitalism for a world of common ownership, access for all to the necessities of life and never having to worry again about paying non-existent bills.
All production will be in common ownership so diagrams like these below will be redundant. In socialism democratic decisions will be made locally, regionally and globally in the best interests of both people and planet.
More than 100 companies have renounced their US citizenship since 1983, most in the past decade. Where they've gone:
Last year, Burger King obtained the Canadian doughnut chain Tim Hortons and announced plans to move its HQ to the Great White North. Here's what the fast-food giant stands to gain:
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Avoiding $400 million to $1.2 billion in US taxes over the next four years. |
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Major shareholders could avoid as much as $820 million in capital-gains taxes. |
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Its low-wage employees would still receive more than $350 million in federal benefits and tax credits. |
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