There is definitely something rotten in the State of Denmark! What is detailed in this piece from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism simply seems wrong and inequitable - except for the corporations making money hand-over-fist. Just last week the small amount of tax paid by Apple in Australia on billions of dollars of sales came to light.
"In recent years, America’s technology giants have increased profits to epic levels. So you’d think this good fortune would prove a boon to the fragile American economy.
In theory, a river of tax dollars from America’s cash-rich technology firms ought to contribute towards a significant reduction of the US $17.5 trillion debt mountain.
Only it hasn’t quite worked out that way.
Today, the 1,067 biggest non-financial firms in the United States, according to Moody’s the credit rating agency, have amassed cash and liquid investments totalling $1.48 trillion – a sum equivalent to the entire economy of Spain.
Of this $1.48tn corporate cash mountain, 22% is held by just four companies. Combined; Apple, Microsoft, Google and Cisco Systems retain $331bn in cash, with $255bn held in foreign subsidiaries sheltered from US tax.
Cash mountains
But instead of this cash sitting idly in a Bermudan bank vault, new research by the Bureau shows that a substantial amount of the tech giants’ offshore cash is in fact lent to the US government.
A trawl of filings made by Apple, Microsoft, Google and Cisco to the US Securities & Exchange Commission reveals these four companies own $163bn in US government securities.
At a conservative interest rate of 0.2%, these firms would have achieved a total return of $326m from the US government. And that is just in one year.
This means US taxpayers pay interest to tech giants on their offshore cash which is held there for tax reduction purposes.
So big are Apple, Microsoft, Google and Cisco’s US Treasury holdings that if they were a country these firms would be the 14th biggest overseas investor in Treasury securities.
If you ever needed tangible evidence that the American corporate tax system is ill suited to the demands of a global economy, the Bureau’s research may help.
The tech giants are by far the biggest example of cash hoarders. But they are by no means alone. Of the $1.48tn in cash retained by US corporates, $900 billion is cash held overseas says Moody’s."
"In recent years, America’s technology giants have increased profits to epic levels. So you’d think this good fortune would prove a boon to the fragile American economy.
In theory, a river of tax dollars from America’s cash-rich technology firms ought to contribute towards a significant reduction of the US $17.5 trillion debt mountain.
Only it hasn’t quite worked out that way.
Today, the 1,067 biggest non-financial firms in the United States, according to Moody’s the credit rating agency, have amassed cash and liquid investments totalling $1.48 trillion – a sum equivalent to the entire economy of Spain.
Of this $1.48tn corporate cash mountain, 22% is held by just four companies. Combined; Apple, Microsoft, Google and Cisco Systems retain $331bn in cash, with $255bn held in foreign subsidiaries sheltered from US tax.
Cash mountains
But instead of this cash sitting idly in a Bermudan bank vault, new research by the Bureau shows that a substantial amount of the tech giants’ offshore cash is in fact lent to the US government.
A trawl of filings made by Apple, Microsoft, Google and Cisco to the US Securities & Exchange Commission reveals these four companies own $163bn in US government securities.
At a conservative interest rate of 0.2%, these firms would have achieved a total return of $326m from the US government. And that is just in one year.
This means US taxpayers pay interest to tech giants on their offshore cash which is held there for tax reduction purposes.
So big are Apple, Microsoft, Google and Cisco’s US Treasury holdings that if they were a country these firms would be the 14th biggest overseas investor in Treasury securities.
If you ever needed tangible evidence that the American corporate tax system is ill suited to the demands of a global economy, the Bureau’s research may help.
The tech giants are by far the biggest example of cash hoarders. But they are by no means alone. Of the $1.48tn in cash retained by US corporates, $900 billion is cash held overseas says Moody’s."
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