Another shocking report: Corporations have $1.4tn (that's TRILLION) stashed in overseas tax havens

This is from The Guardian newspaper, reported by Rob Davies.  Please note that the "tr" following the numerical dollar amounts = trillion.

"US corporate giants such as Apple, Walmart and General Electric have stashed $1.4tn (£980bn) in tax havens, despite receiving trillions of dollars in taxpayer support, according to a report by anti-poverty charity Oxfam. 

"The sum, larger than the economic output of Russia, South Korea and Spain, is held in an 'opaque and secretive network' of 1,608 subsidiaries based offshore, said Oxfam.  The charity’s analysis of the financial affairs of the 50 biggest US corporations comes amid intense scrutiny of tax havens following the leak of the Panama Papers."

Apple topped the list, followed by General Electric and then Microsoft.   The top 10 included Pfizer, Google's parent company Alphabet, and Exxon Mobile.  Oxfam contrasted the $1.4tn held offshore with the $1tn paid in taxes by the top 50 US firms between 2008 and 2014.

The Oxfam report also pointed out that, at the same time they were benefiting from the tax aboidance, the companies had also received a combined $11.2tn in loans, bailouts, and loan guarantees from the federal government.

" . . . The charity said this tax savings had helped firms spend billions on an 'army' of lobbyists calling for greater state support in the form of loans, bailouts and guarantees, funded by taxpayers.  The top 50 US firms spent $2.6bn between 2008 and 2014 on lobbying the US government. . . .


“'For every $1 spent on lobbying, these 50 companies collectively received $130 in tax breaks and more than $4,000 in federal loans, loan guarantees and bailouts,'. . .

"Robbie Silverman, senior tax adviser at Oxfam said: 'Yet again we have evidence of a massive systematic abuse of the global tax system. . . .  We can’t go on with a situation where the rich and powerful are not paying their fair share of tax, leaving the rest of us to foot the bill. . . .  'Tax dodging practiced by corporations and enabled by federal policymakers contributes to dangerous inequality that is undermining our social fabric and hindering economic growth,' the report said."

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I believe this report speaks for itself.   Oxfam is a highly respected global charity (up there with the Red Cross).  This is more evidence that an economic imbalance is rampant and justifies radical measures to restore a balance . . . for the good of all people everywhere. 

Ralph