Re:Jeff Bezos comes out in support of increased corporate taxes
by chrischen on Wednesday April 07, 2021 @05:09AM
(#26722138)
Ok so what about us legit companies that actually reinvested our profits in new hires and other expenses? We'll just pay more because some companies are avoiding taxes? If you want to close a loophole, then close a loophole... if you raise taxes... well, they can still use the loophole.
Generally the answer is: they "spent" the money on "intellectual property" licensed to them by a subsidiary in Ireland (patents, brand name, software license) where that subsidiary pays zero takes through some accounting trickery[0] and moves that money offshore to Bermuda or Caymans. So the main company makes zero profit in markets outside Ireland because coincidentally licensing expenses exactly equal the gross profits of the company - and thus pays zero taxes anywhere ever.
[0] formerly the "double Irish" international tax loophole, nowadays there's a different "Irish patent box"