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Report: Over 8 in 10 corporations have tax havens
By KEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writer Ken Thomas, Associated Press Writer Fri Jan 16, 6:28 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Eighty-three of the nation's 100 largest corporations, including Citigroup, Bank of America and News Corp., had subsidiaries in offshore tax havens in 2007, and some of the companies received federal bailout funding, a government watchdog said Friday.

The Government Accountability Office released a report that said Bank of America Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley all had more than 100 units in countries that maintain low or no taxes. The three financial institutions were included in the $700 billion financial bailout approved by Congress.

Insurance giant American International Group Inc., which has received about $150 billion in bailout money, had 18 subsidiaries. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had 50 units and Wells Fargo & Co. had 18; both financial institutions received government bailout money.

Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who requested the report, have pushed for tougher laws to fight offshore tax havens around the globe. Levin, who leads the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has estimated abusive tax havens and offshore accounts cost the U.S. government at least $100 billion a year in lost taxes.

"I think we should take action to shut down these tax dodgers and we will be introducing legislation to do just that," Dorgan said.

General Motors Corp., which received $13.4 billion from the federal rescue package, had 11 offshore subsidiaries while GM's financing arm, GMAC LLC, had two offshore units. GMAC, whose majority owner is private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, received $5 billion from the Treasury Department in late December.

Citigroup said in a statement that it has more than 4,000 subsidiaries around the globe "which enables us to serve hundreds of millions of individuals and institutions in more than 100 countries." A News Corp. spokeswoman declined comment. Messages were left with several of the companies identified in the report.

Separately, the GAO said 63 of the 100 largest federal contractors maintain subsidiaries in 50 tax havens.

Levin noted that many competitors use the tax havens to varying degrees. PepsiCo Inc. has 70 subsidiaries while the Coca-Cola Co. has eight units. Caterpillar Inc. had 49 while Deere & Co. had three.

I don't find this surprising at all.

I hate that we are giving these people bail out money when they have this kind of tax protection but this could also be a slippery slope. Where do you draw the line between legitimate business off shore and a Tax Haven. I am sure there are some pretty clear indicators but if you change the legislation to attack these tax havens do you also put constraints on legitamate business? At what point do companies around the world that have interest in US companies start to complain.

This is crappy, but I am sure the fix for this is a lot more complicated than we might think. At least I might think!

Interesting though!

I agree with you KYCanuck.... this probably is only the first of these reportings.... a little late now.... ALL books (domestic and int'l) should have been reviewed prior to $$$$ being handed out. Time consuming you say... I think they would have had the info alot quicker if they didn't get money until they did. Not to say they would reveal everything, but it wouldn't have taken rocket science to see something ain't right... just makes you sick to your stomach when you read something like this tho

This is a little bit of a contradiction, since so many complain about the high taxes we pay it is difficult to complain about the companies who find a way to avoid some of it. It's not right, but how many of us would do the same thing given the same circumstances! I might!

It is Illegal If we do it ! The government will put us in Prison ! They bail out the Corporations that do It


Do not forget whom is paying the Big Bill for today's Celebration

Dolphin wrote:It is Illegal If we do it ! The government will put us in Prison ! They bail out the Corporations that do It


Do not forget whom is paying the Big Bill for today's Celebration

Yep, two sets of rules!!!

I wouldn't want to see that Bill

No kidding on the bill, I did see where it is the most expensive ever!! Supposedly paid for by "funds raised", no tax $$$, I call BS on that.

I wholeheartedly believe that a new president deserves a "great big gala", but d@mn, it's going on for days and days... would have looked really good on his part to take some of the "funds raised" and put it to good charities to feed some of the hungry kids here in the USA.

[quote="Dolphin"]It is Illegal If we do it ! The government will put us in Prison !







Or make you the "head" of the IRS!!!!

Bush was lauded by the media for spending 43 million on the inauguration while the economy was much better. Now, obama is spending 160 million +.

He should step up to the plate and say we're doing it in small fashion and just televising it so the money can be put back into the economy.

Judging by the amount of people there it would probably incite a riot if they didn't have a big event. Also just with the volume of people I don't know how they could have controlled the cost. Just the security alone must be an astronomical amount of that $160M.

FasterThanYou wrote:

He should step up to the plate and say we're doing it in small fashion and just televising it so the money can be put back into the economy.

Just imagine how many race cards would be played if that were to happen.