Not any more. Essentially all US corporate foreign cash was repatriated (as stock repurchases) under TCJA, and going forward leaving the money overseas doesn't avoid taxes any more.

Why didn’t they use the one provided by the tax cuts a few years back?

They'd still have to pay 21% on it. They're probably waiting for a tax holiday like the one in 2004 where companies could bring back cash at a 5.25% tax rate.

That is just sick. They should pay a tax rate at least as high as what the average worker pays if not higher

Why do you think companies should be taxed?

Most people who want to tax corporations actually just want to tax the super-villanous rich people. But here's an interesting idea: just tax rich people more.

By increasing costs for all companies, you are making products more expensive for all consumers. It's effectively a regressive tax.

You also need to remember that a majority of Americans are invested in the stock market[1]. A healthy economy is good for everyone.

I believe that money that gets paid out from a company to investors (dividends) should be taxed as regular income, but the income of the company itself should be untaxed. That way we avoid the distortionary effects of double-taxing money but we still tax the evil rich people you're so concerned about.

[1]https://news.gallup.com/poll/266807/percentage-americans-own...

>By increasing costs for all companies, you are making products more expensive for all consumers. It's effectively a regressive tax.

Taxing profits has zero impact on costs. The most it would affect is the viability of companies that are on the border of profitable/not profitable because it would detract from their ability to attract capital.

Apple is quite possibly the furthest away from this scenario you could possibly imagine. Taxing their profits will have zero impact on apples costs.

>here's an interesting idea: just tax rich people more

The funny thing is that whenever you try to do that a coterie of economically illiterate paid-to-be-wrong journalists come out telling you how much you're ruining things for everybody else and how little the rich will really be affected.

You can almost measure the actual impact of a tax by the intensity of the screams in the popular press about how much the average joe will get screwed and how little the rich will be affected.

And, of course, taxes that really are like that get branded differently - they're "necessary evils" or simply just ignored.

It might work if we did tax the super rich more, but we don't, we often tax them less through capital gains. Taxless corporations would become vehicles for tax avoidance/evasion.

The stock market is not "the economy", "the economy" is not doing too well, but the stock market keeps steaming along while a lot of people struggle and congress does its handwringing over the cost of meager stimulus packages. Maybe some extra tax revenue would be useful.

Dividends can already get special tax treatment, and many corporations are averting taxation entirely. For a lot of situations we're already at your ideal scenario in a round about way, except we're failing to tax the super rich.

I'm not concerned about the "evil rich". Apparently you are though.

I'm more concerned about how that tax revenue could benefit society.

5.25% of $200 Billion is $10.5 Billion.

How much in taxes does the average worker pay over their lifetime?

Not to mention, this money was already taxed, just in another country where that money was earned. Seems like a good deal, to bring that money back into our economy and get it spent on goods and services domestically.

"We'll allow you to bring back $185 Billion and spend it here locally, helping the entire economy, but only if you pay us $10.5 Billion!"

I'd be OK with zero tax on this money. Get it flowing back into the economy where it can do real good things. The US Government isn't going to miss $10.5 Billion at the rate we're already giving it away to people.

The alternative is what we have already. Everyone loses; no one gets any piece of that money in the US.

"How much in taxes does the average worker pay over their lifetime?"

How much does the average worker make over their lifetime? Not fucking 200Bn

So the question becomes, do you want $200 Billion or zero?

Right now, we get zero, and I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be able to come up with some way to compel them to give us a sinlge penny of it.

Do you mean 10 Billion or zero?

If people can be ok getting a small piece, sure. But, from the looks of it, many are unhappy with that amount, let alone something like 20%.

$200B is the full amount. Not 20%. The OP said do you mean $10B because of it being 5% of $200B

Apple will spend the $200 Billion here domestically, if they can bring the money home.

I'm not, personally, very concerned with giving another $10 Billion to the US Government. It's a small amount in the scheme of things.

However, getting $200 Billion injected into the local economy would have a profound effect.

You're too optimistic that the money will be injected in the local economy. Apple clearly doesn't know what to do with all of it

Perhaps. The bigger point was, getting Apple to spend the money here in the US has far more benefits than holding out for an inconsequential amount of one-time tax revenue.

Cutting off your nose to spite your face, sort of thing.

Corporate taxes create a huge amount of deadweight loss and disproportionately effect workers. Taxing the income of the rich is a much more effective way to do what you want. There are many many econ papers on this, go ahead and google it.

?

The exact opposite is true. Taxing revenue and salaries affects workers and the overall health of the company. Taxing profits affects mainly just shareholders - especially for larger companies.

There are several papers on this.

Why? How about lowering taxes for the “average worker?”

I think we should only tax income over some number like $100k. If the money doesn't feed you then it's should be taxed higher. Nobody needs a nice car. People need food

Those certainly aren't mutually exclusive ideas.

Because cutting taxes will cut spending, and military spending is a sacred cow, so among the useful things the government provides, the average worker needs things like roads and a working school system, and healthcare when they get to Medicare age.