All right, readers, hopefully this is my final article on Cheney, Halliburton, Kellogg, Brown & Root, Iraq and U.S. corporate flight to Bermuda and similar tax havens. I get overwhelmed just listing the topics, let alone recapping the details. Much more of this and it’s going to be too much to keep track of. Who am I kidding? It’s already too much to keep track of. But it’s damn educational.
Back in the first article on these subjects two weeks ago, I started my series with tax evasions by major U.S. companies, including Tyco International, Accenture (formerly known as Anderson Consulting – yes, Arthur Anderson – before it renamed itself as a part of its offshore tax move), Stanley Works, Pricewaterhouse Coopers and, of course, Halliburton Company.
These major (former) “U.S.” companies were officially moving their headquarters to offshore tax havens like Bermuda, the Caymans, etc. to avoid paying U.S. taxes on the billions they were collectively making every year.
They were also following the example set in the early 1990s by U.S. health insurance companies. Physically, however, they hadn’t budged an inch.
Then the articles went on to document the activities of a Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root, in bilking the U.S. military (funded by the U.S. Congress, which in turn is funded by the taxes of U.S. citizens – you) of millions of extra dollars for work performed in Kosovo and other places overseas.
This money from the military’s (read your) pockets then goes into an offshore account and avoids virtually all U.S. taxes. And this one company is emblematic of all the estimated hundreds of “U.S.” corporations pulling this exact same disappearing act.
While these other corporations may not be receiving contracts from the U.S. military without competition, they are still sequestering their earnings where U.S. tax laws do not tread.
In my first article, I mentioned a piece of dual legislation called the “Corporate Patriot Enforcement Act,” which would close the “Bermuda tax loophole,” the most famous of the offshore tax havens. At least, it’s suppsed to close it in theory. Unfortunately, on closer inspection this proves not to be the case.
This bill is actually a watered-down version of a piece of Democrat legislation that would have disallowed such companies after they reincorporate “Bermuda style.” Still, even that limited reform would be scheduled to expire after three years.
The altered legislation, all told, would curb tax-shelter abuses by around $15 billion over the next 10 years. At the same time, the new GOP provisions would spend $83 billion on “simplification measures,” which in reality would create 18 new loophole provisions that would benefit big business.
Damn, still too much to cover and too little space.
See everyone again next week.
Part three in a continuing series. Next week look for information about the taxation of the citizens and corporations in America.
