Oxfam America took a close look at the way large, profitable companies use offshore tax havens and other methods to slash their corporate tax rates in the US rather than pay taxes where the majority of their business takes place.
The report, “Broken at the Top,” found that the 50 largest companies in the US have $1.4 trillion hidden in tax havens while at the same time receiving trillions of dollars in tax payer-funded loans and subsidies. The tax practices of these corporate behemoths cost Americans an estimated $111 billion per year and cost developing countries another $100 billion a year.
Apple, the world’s second-largest company, was the company with the greatest amount stored abroad — $181 billion in three subsidiaries. Next in Oxfam’s league table was General Electric, with $119 billion stored in 118 tax haven subsidiaries, followed by Microsoft which had $108 billion kept overseas.
The Oxfam report found that between 2008 and 2014, the 50 largest US companies — which include Disney, Walmart, American Express, Alphabet (Google), AT&T, Bank of America, Pepsi, and so on — collectively received $27 in federal loans, loan guarantees and bailouts for every $1 they coughed up in federal taxes. Between 2008 and 2014, they collectively received more than $11.2 trillion in tax-payer funded help. …
In 1952, corporate income taxes contributed to 33 percent of the US federal budget. Today corporate income taxes cover just 9 percent of the budget.
The Biggest Companies in America Are Being Handed $27 for Every $1 They Pay in Taxes