What should be done, if anything, to bring home $5 trillion held overseas by American businesses?

[danielpalos]

/---- They already paid taxes in the foreign countries. Bring it it back to the US would cost them an additional tax - that's double taxation. But then again you don't give a rat's ass who you hurt.
View attachment 122006

Firms can go, "Third World", all they want, as long as Congress "excises the wage difference in taxes" that would otherwise accrue, with any board of equalization.

 

[danielpalos]

Let 'em bring it back tax free, that'd jump start the economy. It's not like we're losing revenue cuz we're not getting taxes on all that money anyway. And BTW, most of the other advanced nations do not tax offshore business earnings so why should we?

The rich already have a "regular" capital gains preference to "jump start our economy", why do they need a bonus if they are not already, "meeting their performance goals regarding Jobs Booms"?

 

[JoeNormal]

It would be nice to have some of that money come back home.

Freeze the accounts until the corporations agree to pay what they should have to begin with.

 

[Slade3200]

It would be nice to have some of that money come back home.

Freeze the accounts until the corporations agree to pay what they should have to begin with.

Please explain your idea... It sounds like you are suggesting that the US government freeze American bank accounts for anybody that has money in an offshore account until they transfer those funds into an American account and pay taxes on it. Is that what you are saying? Hows all this supposed to work?

 

[JoeNormal]

It would be nice to have some of that money come back home.

Freeze the accounts until the corporations agree to pay what they should have to begin with.

Please explain your idea... It sounds like you are suggesting that the US government freeze American bank accounts for anybody that has money in an offshore account until they transfer those funds into an American account and pay taxes on it. Is that what you are saying? Hows all this supposed to work?

Yes, that's the idea.

 

[usmbguest5318]

What should be done, if anything, to bring home $5 trillion held overseas by American businesses?

Seeing as the sums are legally held where they are:

• What, quantitatively, you expect to gain by having them "come home?"
• Is the sum you expect the country to gain worth the cost of bothering to gain it?

There're all sorts of "nice" things to do/have that we don't have because the business case for doing them isn't material and/or materially positive.

The easiest way, IMO, to obviate the motivation firms have for storing their profits overseas is to alter the corporate tax code so that net income as reported in the firms' audited financial statements is the income upon which they pay taxes. The reason I say that is because for tax purposes, firms seek to minimize income/profit, whereas for investor purposes, the purpose for which they issue audited financial statements, they aim to show as much income/profit as possible. Align the basis of taxation with the basis by which firms attract investors and firms will no longer have much reason to hold their money offshore because that money is already captured in the figure reported on a P&L as net income.

That approach will save millions every company that holds revenue/profits offshore if that approach is accompanied by simplifying tax preparation such that one takes the reported net income figure, multiplies it by a rate, writes a check and sends it to the IRS. Tax attorneys and tax accountants' fees and salaries will be nearly eliminated.

 

[Slade3200]

It would be nice to have some of that money come back home.

Freeze the accounts until the corporations agree to pay what they should have to begin with.

Please explain your idea... It sounds like you are suggesting that the US government freeze American bank accounts for anybody that has money in an offshore account until they transfer those funds into an American account and pay taxes on it. Is that what you are saying? Hows all this supposed to work?

Yes, that's the idea.

How exactly does that work? For example, how does the government know how many accounts you have and how much money is in each account? How is it all regulated and enforced?

 

[JoeNormal]

It would be nice to have some of that money come back home.

Freeze the accounts until the corporations agree to pay what they should have to begin with.

Please explain your idea... It sounds like you are suggesting that the US government freeze American bank accounts for anybody that has money in an offshore account until they transfer those funds into an American account and pay taxes on it. Is that what you are saying? Hows all this supposed to work?

Yes, that's the idea.

How exactly does that work? For example, how does the government know how many accounts you have and how much money is in each account? How is it all regulated and enforced?

I'm confident that if our intelligence agencies don't already know who has what where, they could find out. It would also require some cooperation from the countries where the money is held and that might need to be coerced in some way. That probably wouldn't be too difficult either because those nations require defense and possibly infrastructure support from the US.

 

[Siete]

It would be nice to have some of that money come back home.

Freeze the accounts until the corporations agree to pay what they should have to begin with.

Please explain your idea... It sounds like you are suggesting that the US government freeze American bank accounts for anybody that has money in an offshore account until they transfer those funds into an American account and pay taxes on it. Is that what you are saying? Hows all this supposed to work?

Yes, that's the idea.

How exactly does that work? For example, how does the government know how many accounts you have and how much money is in each account? How is it all regulated and enforced?

I'm confident that if our intelligence agencies don't already know who has what where, they could find out. It would also require some cooperation from the countries where the money is held and that might need to be coerced in some way. That probably wouldn't be too difficult either because those nations require defense and possibly infrastructure support from the US.

. There's no double taxation problem; companies receive credit for taxes paid over to other governments.

The corporate tax bill – nominally 35 percent – is not due in America until the foreign profits come home. In the jargon of the corporate world, the taxes are "deferred" until the profits are "repatriated."


be confident NOT ONE SINGLE CORPORATION WILL COME BACK TO THE U.S.

NOT ONE.

 

[JoeNormal]

Freeze the accounts until the corporations agree to pay what they should have to begin with.

Please explain your idea... It sounds like you are suggesting that the US government freeze American bank accounts for anybody that has money in an offshore account until they transfer those funds into an American account and pay taxes on it. Is that what you are saying? Hows all this supposed to work?

Yes, that's the idea.

How exactly does that work? For example, how does the government know how many accounts you have and how much money is in each account? How is it all regulated and enforced?

I'm confident that if our intelligence agencies don't already know who has what where, they could find out. It would also require some cooperation from the countries where the money is held and that might need to be coerced in some way. That probably wouldn't be too difficult either because those nations require defense and possibly infrastructure support from the US.

. There's no double taxation problem; companies receive credit for taxes paid over to other governments.

The corporate tax bill – nominally 35 percent – is not due in America until the foreign profits come home. In the jargon of the corporate world, the taxes are "deferred" until the profits are "repatriated."


be confident NOT ONE SINGLE CORPORATION WILL COME BACK TO THE U.S.

NOT ONE.

I think what everybody is outraged over is transferring profits that should be taxable in the US to foreign banks - not to other governments. But I'm with you that these corporations will not bring jobs that have been outsourced to other countries back here (with the possible exception of engineering jobs that it turns out can't be done elsewhere).

 

[JoeNormal]

It would be nice to have some of that money come back home.

Freeze the accounts until the corporations agree to pay what they should have to begin with.

Please explain your idea... It sounds like you are suggesting that the US government freeze American bank accounts for anybody that has money in an offshore account until they transfer those funds into an American account and pay taxes on it. Is that what you are saying? Hows all this supposed to work?

Maybe I misinterpreted your statement. The idea is not to freeze US accounts but to freeze foreign accounts owned by corporations. That way they would still have working capital. There would almost certainly come a time when the capital held abroad would be needed and that is when tax money would have to be paid.

 

[brummelben]

It would be nice to have some of that money come back home.

Freeze the accounts until the corporations agree to pay what they should have to begin with.

Please explain your idea... It sounds like you are suggesting that the US government freeze American bank accounts for anybody that has money in an offshore account until they transfer those funds into an American account and pay taxes on it. Is that what you are saying? Hows all this supposed to work?

Maybe I misinterpreted your statement. The idea is not to freeze US accounts but to freeze foreign accounts owned by corporations. That way they would still have working capital. There would almost certainly come a time when the capital held abroad would be needed and that is when tax money would have to be paid.

How do you freeze an account in a foreign bank?

 

[task0778]

Freeze the accounts until the corporations agree to pay what they should have to begin with.

Please explain your idea... It sounds like you are suggesting that the US government freeze American bank accounts for anybody that has money in an offshore account until they transfer those funds into an American account and pay taxes on it. Is that what you are saying? Hows all this supposed to work?

Yes, that's the idea.

How exactly does that work? For example, how does the government know how many accounts you have and how much money is in each account? How is it all regulated and enforced?

I'm confident that if our intelligence agencies don't already know who has what where, they could find out. It would also require some cooperation from the countries where the money is held and that might need to be coerced in some way. That probably wouldn't be too difficult either because those nations require defense and possibly infrastructure support from the US.

. There's no double taxation problem; companies receive credit for taxes paid over to other governments.

The corporate tax bill – nominally 35 percent – is not due in America until the foreign profits come home. In the jargon of the corporate world, the taxes are "deferred" until the profits are "repatriated."


be confident NOT ONE SINGLE CORPORATION WILL COME BACK TO THE U.S.

NOT ONE.

That isn't the point - US multi-national corps are doing business abroad making and selling stuff in foreign markets. They aren't going to bring their operations back here and make stuff here to ship offshore, that's ridiculous. The whole point of overseas operations is to cut production costs as well as shipping expenses, otherwise they couldn't compete in foreign markets. So the point is not that any US corps will come back to the US, instead the question is whether they would bring their profits back here to invest here and grow our economy. Even if they pay out dividends to stockholders, that money goes into circulation and helps the economy grow too. Of course individuals will have to pay taxes on those dividends, just like they do now.

And there definitely IS double taxation, if a company makes $100 million dollars profit offshore somewhere, they would have to pay taxes in country where they are doing business. Under current US tax laws they would get credit for the $10 million they paid in taxes tot eh foreign country but still be on the hook to pay taxes here for the $90 million that's left over, and THAT is double taxation.

 

[Missouri_Mike]

It's intere

It would be nice to have some of that money come back home.

Folks with money overseas should pay the tax on it and bring the money back into the U.S..

Obviously they aren't doing that so maybe your feel good solution isn't the answer.

Then they can leave that money overseas. You feel good about others making more money than you but paying less in tax??

That's what they're doing now so obviously your tax the shit out of them plan isn't working to get more investment here. I don't worry about trivial things like if someone makes more than me. I also think the entire tax system is a joke. We need a flat tax if you want it to be fair to everyone equally.

My Man. I would love a flat 15% tax on all income. No deductions.

I was thinking ten percent but ok.

 

[EverCurious]

Lets try a more simple concept. The world is a store, this offshore cash is a customer. Either we entice them to buy USA or they'll buy someone elses "product" This isn't rocket science. I don't think we should tax it at all personally, but I say we start with a modest 10% tax and see if they nibble, no sense /not/ getting some gumballs for the kitty if they're willing to drop a quarter, if they don't bite on that, then drop the tax entirely. (Obviously can't /tell/ them that's the plan heh)

 

[P@triot]

It would be nice to have some of that money come back home.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist. Make the tax rates here lower than they are overseas and all of the money will come back here.

 

[P@triot]

My Man. I would love a flat 15% tax on all income. No deductions.

I was thinking ten percent but ok.

Agreed....10% flat tax across the board. No deductions.

 

[oreo]

It would be nice to have some of that money come back home.

Well the only thing the Federal Government has the authority to do is lower corporate tax rates, giving incentives for them to either stay here or come back.

The reason corporations move overseas is for cheap labor--less regulatiions and taxes.

Trade has always been a double edged sword. Americans enjoy paying less for products--but it does create job loss's in this country. Automation has also been a huge factor in real job loss's.

 

[EverCurious]

That is the down side of being a consumer economy. In the grand scheme of things we produce jack shit that only other rich nations can really afford to even think about purchasing. It's like the animals that go extinct are the ones who over specialize, and that's our economy. If a company can invest in a more "balanced" economy it behooves them. Thus when we market the US to get that offshore cash we need to be mindful of the "risk factors" and offer a little more incentive than say other countries with more "stable" markets could get away with - in direct opposition to that however, we not only have a very off kilter market, but we also have the highest taxes in the world - this is not a winning combination...

 

[Missouri_Mike]

It would be nice to have some of that money come back home.

Folks with money overseas should pay the tax on it and bring the money back into the U.S..

Obviously they aren't doing that so maybe your feel good solution isn't the answer.

Then they can leave that money overseas. You feel good about others making more money than you but paying less in tax??

That's what they're doing now so obviously your tax the shit out of them plan isn't working to get more investment here. I don't worry about trivial things like if someone makes more than me. I also think the entire tax system is a joke. We need a flat tax if you want it to be fair to everyone equally.

Nope, that plan is working as designed. Want your money here? Pay your taxes on it. Why should they be allowed to avoid paying tax on their income but others, like myself, cannot?

Well you're sure teaching those rich people a lesson. In the mean time they just keep the money over seas. You're showing them though, keep up the good work.

Just a thought though. Maybe you're paying too much or too little in taxes? I mean if you think you deserve 50% or whatever amount of their money to go to the government how much of yours should go there? Are you willing to match what they pay?