Hiding From Taxes

“According to a recent Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) report, Fortune 500 companies have more than $2.1 trillion in offshore cash in tax havens. These companies use subsidiaries in tax havens to avoid paying an estimated $620 billion in U.S. taxes.” – Oxfam

With nearly 200 countries to pick from, and the ability to reassign revenues to countries where the sales didn’t occur,  corporations naturally find places to stash their cash while paying the lowest taxes legally required. When companies weren’t international, and when currency was hard to transfer, governments could readily collect taxes. Now, corporations can shift funds faster than governments can set policies and act. As a result, wealth accumulates, governments are more likely to impose austerity measures and are more likely to have to operate using debt. One of the great enablers of off-shore money reservoirs is the industry of major financial institutions, the big banks that were too big to fail a few years ago that are bigger now. The estimates of cash stored off-shore (non-US) are conservative because, by its nature, the cash is being hidden.

(Click on the photo for the link.)

“A Hidden Network Of Hidden Wealth” – Oxfam