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Tech Firms Keep Piles of 'Foreign Cash' In US

Posted by Unknown on from the hanging-out-on-rusty's-yacht dept.

theodp writes "There's a funny thing about the estimated $1.7 trillion that American companies say they have indefinitely invested overseas,' reports the WSJ's Kate Linebaugh (reg. or the old Google trick). 'A lot of it is actually sitting right here at home.' And if tech companies like Google and Microsoft want to keep more than three-quarters of the cash owned by their foreign subsidiaries at U.S. banks, held in U.S. dollars or parked in U.S. government and corporate securities, Linebaugh explains, this money is still overseas in the eyes of the IRS and isn't taxed as long as it doesn't flow back to the U.S. parent company. Helping corporations avoid the need to tap their foreign-held cash are low interest rates at home, which have allowed U.S. companies to borrow cheaply. Oracle, for instance, raised $5 billion last year, paying an interest rate roughly two-thirds of a percentage point above the low post-crash Treasury yield, about 2.5% at the time (by contrast, grad students and parents pay 6.8%-7.9% for Federal student loans). Were the funds it manages to keep in the hands of its foreign subsidiaries brought home and subjected to U.S. income tax, Oracle estimated it could owe Uncle Sam about $6.3 billion."

1 of 427 comments (clear)

  1. Re:time for a outsouring tax? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    We have TANF(Temporary Assistance for Need Families)

    more like Temporary Assistance For Negro Families.

    yeah yeah lots of whites use welfare. sure thing. what matters is that the PERCENTAGE of all whites taking welfare is a LOT LOWER then the PERCENTAGE of all negroes taking welfare. thats how you fairly compare them.

    same deal with crime rates and drug abuse and all the other fail-at-life indicators. american blacks are the underachievers of society.

    oh those poor poor pitiful poor you idolize like some kind of heroes. most are not victims of oppression or bad luck or any of that crap. the NUMBER ONE way to be poor in america is havin babies you knew you couldn't afford. we all know how babies are made. we all know what birth control is. stop defending this stupid shit. yeah i know you like to make a big show of how compassionate you are but youre doin it wrong. you have such a big heart then think about this. it is the children born to these sluts that suffer.

    maybe govt can give them free bungee cords to hold their thighs closed.