Lobbyists Admit Corporate Tax "Holiday" Didn't Work, But Demand It Again

By Dave Johnson

Created 03/24/2011 - 3:01pm

The usual suspects are trying to sell us on yet another scheme to keep from paying their taxes. This one is called a repatriation tax holiday—a huge cut in the tax rate on money companies are holding outside of the country. We did this before and it didn't work out so well for us, so of course they want to do it again.

Multinational corporations hide profits in offshore shell companies to avoid taxes. Here is how the scheme works:

One shell company manufactures in China or another low-cost country, sells the products to a shell company "based" in a tax-haven like the Cayman Islands at a low price so the manufacturer doesn't show much profit. The tax-haven company immediately sells it to their U.S. company at a very high price, so the tax-haven shell company gets most of the profits.