AMERICA - Tech Companies NOT Paying Their Fair Share?

"How Apple, Other Tech Companies Take Advantage of U.S. Tax Code" PBS Newshour 4/30/2012

Excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): And we turn to a side of the tech revolution that rarely gets attention: How much do our leading tech companies pay in taxes?

The New York Times has taken a close look at Apple, one giant among many that take perfectly legal steps around a tax code written for an earlier industrial age. The Times reported that Apple, headquartered in Cupertino, California, uses offices in Nevada, where there is no state corporate income tax, and in countries with lower tax rates, like Ireland and the British Virgin Islands to help cut the taxes it pays around the world.

It cites government and corporate data showing that over the last two years, the 71 technology companies in the S&P 500 stock index, including Apple, Google and Yahoo!, paid a rate that was on average a third less than other companies on that list. Apple, for example, paid a collective rate of 9.8 percent in taxes around the globe. In comparison, Wal-Mart paid 24 percent.

Charles Duhigg co-wrote the Times article. He's the author of the book "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business." Also with us, Martin Sullivan, the chief economist for Tax Analysts, a nonprofit organization that produces tax news and analysis.

Other significant excerpts

MARTIN SULLIVAN, chief economist, Tax Analysts: That's right.

Charles is describing at the state level what's happening also across international borders. The world is becoming more global. The capital is more mobile because the capital is no longer physical capital. We're talking about technology, patents and trademarks. And that can move across borders without any disruption to business.

And because our tax laws are leaky, the consultants and the economists and the lawyers that work for these corporations are able to shift the profits out of the reach of the IRS and into the tax havens.


CHARLES DUHIGG, The New York Times: And yet technology is one of the largest growth industries in the United States. And so our tax system both at the state and federal level needs to reflect what the actual business of America is now.

It IS legal, but it's greed without a conscience. So what if the U.S. has such a high deficits, just as long as these type of companies make larger profits.