NYT: G.E.?s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether

This is a very interesting piece from the NYT about how GE uses tax loopholes to evade paying American taxes by keeping money abroad, etc. There are many companies who use similar strategies and it clearly shows the weaknesses in our tax system, but unfortunately lobbying from those very companies stops any change from actually happening.


When it comes to the bottom line, this sort of tax loophole often leaves the company with more profit than had they actually brought the money back into the States and hired people, thus fueling unemployment as well.

EDIT: This link works- http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html

obtuseobserver said:

requires login....

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Weird. I should have tested the link; this one should work: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html

obtuseobserver said:

legal tax planning is legal tax planning. I recall one tax case where the judge said that tax planning not crossing the line is within the line. Don't want people doing what they did? Change the tax code.

If bringing more money back home means they show greater profit they are incentivized to do to. Corporations' duty is to their shareholders not American workers.

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I completely agree. My position on this is that our tax code is not adequate, not that the corporations are doing anything wrong here.

obtuseobserver said:

Perhaps they should be incentivized to bring more money back by lowering the capital gains tax to something comparable to other developed nations.

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That among other things- a lower corporate tax would help as well as.