Oh, these guys with cash would use it to create US jobs!?? Sure they would.
If it made fiscal sense to do so, they would. But it has to make fiscal sense, compared to the cost of having the products manufactured elsewhere and then shipped to the US.
The companies aren't asking that the foreign profits be tax free, they are asking that the tax be reduced from 35% to perhaps as low as 5% for a limited time. So even if no jobs were created, the government would get tax revenue from the incoming funds.
The amount of money that would be brought into the US under this plan could be as much as 1 trillion dollars.
Lets see, do you think it would be better for the government to get 35% of zero dollars, or 5% of 1 trillion dollars? And despite your skepticism, at least some portion of that money, if not the bulk of it, would end up helping create jobs here in the US.
-kpluck
And I am sure this temporary tax break would lapse in a given time just as the Bush tax cuts did, err will.
All true. I'm actually getting more and more hesitant to buy stuff from a company with all this cash in the bank that still ships all of its production offshore, and then looks for a tax break on repatriating its profits.
...a large portion of US debt is owned by China, this seems rather silly now doesn't it? The problem for you is buying quality goods locally from domestic companies. If you can do that - it is what you should do. But any company that selling to global markets is generating revenue globally (outside of the US in particular) and those funds, while a part of the overall revenue of the company, remain outside the US because the tax tag on "repatriating" the funds into the US is high. This gives companies like Microsoft, Cisco and Apple no real incentive to bring the profits "home". In fact several companies have setup "home offices" outside the US in order to escape the higher taxes.
Apple has an interest in remaining a US company, even though China stands to become its largest market, and globally the US market is starting trail global sales outside the US for Apple. One of the nice things for Apple is that they can hold their profits in national currency where it occurs and thus not suffer any exchange issues when they go to increase operations (like building Apple Stores in China or India), or conversely leverage strong currencies against weaker ones to an advantage.
The larger problem is that the US badly needs to overhaul it's corporate tax program. Given that the taxes companies and corporations pay to the government are rolled into the cost of operations (and therefore into the price of goods and services paid for by the consumer), it seems silly to me to raise taxes on business. It simply results in me and you as consumers paying those taxes in the price we pay for what we are purchasing - so we pay not just our own taxes (income, property, sales and use, hospitality, gas, state, local and city - in some cases) but the taxes that well-meaning but clueless people insist be levied on businesses and corporations as well.
it didn't create jobs during the last tax holiday, and it won't create jobs during another tax holiday. it didn't spur further investment during the last tax holiday, and it won't spur investment during another tax holiday. it didn't bolster the economy during the last tax holiday, and it won't bolster the economy during another tax holiday.
Sorry, you have no proof to support those statements. While job creation, investment and the economy didn't suddenly surge wildly after the last one (in 2004), there is no way to show that the additional funds did NOT in fact result in increases to those items at some level. It may not have been the panacea that you and others were looking for, but the economics of the time may not have allowed that to have a significant impact. BUt you can also argue that "every little bit helps".
The key question here is whether profits made offshore - that is in other countries - and taxed already in other countries, should be taxed here as well. This is why as we move further into global economies, the US tax code really needs to be reviewed and updated. The tax code was written for a largely domestic business population, not so much for businesses that operate globally.
Comments
Oh, these guys with cash would use it to create US jobs!?? Sure they would.
If it made fiscal sense to do so, they would. But it has to make fiscal sense, compared to the cost of having the products manufactured elsewhere and then shipped to the US.
See, that wasn't so hard, was it?
The companies aren't asking that the foreign profits be tax free, they are asking that the tax be reduced from 35% to perhaps as low as 5% for a limited time. So even if no jobs were created, the government would get tax revenue from the incoming funds.
The amount of money that would be brought into the US under this plan could be as much as 1 trillion dollars.
Lets see, do you think it would be better for the government to get 35% of zero dollars, or 5% of 1 trillion dollars? And despite your skepticism, at least some portion of that money, if not the bulk of it, would end up helping create jobs here in the US.
-kpluck
And I am sure this temporary tax break would lapse in a given time just as the Bush tax cuts did, err will.
All true. I'm actually getting more and more hesitant to buy stuff from a company with all this cash in the bank that still ships all of its production offshore, and then looks for a tax break on repatriating its profits.
...a large portion of US debt is owned by China, this seems rather silly now doesn't it? The problem for you is buying quality goods locally from domestic companies. If you can do that - it is what you should do. But any company that selling to global markets is generating revenue globally (outside of the US in particular) and those funds, while a part of the overall revenue of the company, remain outside the US because the tax tag on "repatriating" the funds into the US is high. This gives companies like Microsoft, Cisco and Apple no real incentive to bring the profits "home". In fact several companies have setup "home offices" outside the US in order to escape the higher taxes.
Apple has an interest in remaining a US company, even though China stands to become its largest market, and globally the US market is starting trail global sales outside the US for Apple. One of the nice things for Apple is that they can hold their profits in national currency where it occurs and thus not suffer any exchange issues when they go to increase operations (like building Apple Stores in China or India), or conversely leverage strong currencies against weaker ones to an advantage.
The larger problem is that the US badly needs to overhaul it's corporate tax program. Given that the taxes companies and corporations pay to the government are rolled into the cost of operations (and therefore into the price of goods and services paid for by the consumer), it seems silly to me to raise taxes on business. It simply results in me and you as consumers paying those taxes in the price we pay for what we are purchasing - so we pay not just our own taxes (income, property, sales and use, hospitality, gas, state, local and city - in some cases) but the taxes that well-meaning but clueless people insist be levied on businesses and corporations as well.
it didn't create jobs during the last tax holiday, and it won't create jobs during another tax holiday. it didn't spur further investment during the last tax holiday, and it won't spur investment during another tax holiday. it didn't bolster the economy during the last tax holiday, and it won't bolster the economy during another tax holiday.
Sorry, you have no proof to support those statements. While job creation, investment and the economy didn't suddenly surge wildly after the last one (in 2004), there is no way to show that the additional funds did NOT in fact result in increases to those items at some level. It may not have been the panacea that you and others were looking for, but the economics of the time may not have allowed that to have a significant impact. BUt you can also argue that "every little bit helps".
The key question here is whether profits made offshore - that is in other countries - and taxed already in other countries, should be taxed here as well. This is why as we move further into global economies, the US tax code really needs to be reviewed and updated. The tax code was written for a largely domestic business population, not so much for businesses that operate globally.