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Obama to crack down on business taxes

Obama to ask Congress to crackdown on tax havens, international tax exemptions

• Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer
• On Monday May 4, 2009, 8:09 am EDT

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama plans changes to tax policy certain to be unpopular with corporations with international divisions and individuals who use tax havens.

Obama's two-part plan, which he is slated to unveil at the White House on Monday, also calls for 800 new federal tax agents to enforce the system.
The president's proposal would eliminate some tax deductions for companies that earn profits in countries with low tax rates, as well as consider U.S. citizens who use tax havens in the Bahamas or Cayman Islands guilty of violating U.S. tax laws. If Obama wins congressional approval for the changes -- and he faces a challenge on Capitol Hill -- it could deliver $210 billion in tax revenue over the next decade.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was to join Obama for the 11 a.m. comments.
Officials described the administration's plan ahead of the announcement on the condition of anonymity so they wouldn't upstage the president's remarks. However, they acknowledged the political challenges facing the plan. The administration won't seek a complete repeal of overseas tax benefits and, although the rule changes are narrower than some anticipated, business leaders still oppose them as a tax hike. Obama aides countered that the plan is a step toward a massive overhaul of international financial regulations the president has promised.
In exchange, Obama said he was willing to make permanent a research tax credit that was to expire at the end of the year and is popular with businesses. Officials estimate that making the tax credits permanent would cost taxpayers $74.5 billion over the next decade.
But administration aides said 75 percent of those tax credits paid workers' wages; given the struggling economy, aides were reluctant to do anything that could add more Americans to the unemployment rolls.
It was small comfort. Companies who shelter profits in international accounts stand to lose billions if Obama's plan becomes law. Under the existing regulation, those companies pay taxes only if they bring the profits back to the U.S. If they keep the profits offshore, they can defer paying taxes indefinitely -- and many do.
Obama's plan wouldn't go into effect until 2011; Obama has said he does not want to tinker with tax revenues until his $787 billion stimulus plan has run its course. The proposals, however, were far from complete, and aides said this was just one piece of the administration's plan for sweeping overhaul.
First up: Companies won't be able to write-off domestic expenses for generating profits abroad. For instance, administrative tasks performed in New York for a London office would not be tax deductible in the United States.
Administration officials depicted the move as a way to close unfair tax loopholes that encouraged companies to send jobs overseas. They argued that if it costs the same amount to do business in, say, Ireland as in Iowa, why not do it entirely in Des Moines? Officials said Obama would characterize the move as a way to keep jobs in the United States and fight a system that is rigged against U.S. companies who keep their entire business operation domestic.
Obama also planned to ask Congress to crack down on tax havens and implement a major shift in the way courts view guilt. Under Obama's proposal, Americans would have to prove they were not breaking U.S. tax laws by sending money to banks that don't cooperate with tax officials. It essentially would reverse the long-held assumption of innocence in U.S. courts.
If financial institutions cooperate with Washington and disclose details when asked, Americans could invest anywhere they like.
Obama officials also said they would close a Clinton-era provision that would cost $87 billion over the next decade by letting U.S. companies "check the box" and treat international subsidiaries as mere branch offices. Officials said it was meant as a paperwork shortcut that is now a widely used and perfectly legal way to avoid paying billions in taxes on international operations.
On the Net: http://www.whitehouse.gov

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Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be

__________________
everything i print write or show on here is a complete and utter lie..i cant help myself i am a terminal liar..all of this shit is just fiction and made up for entertainment purposes ONLY..

Geeze, it's about time. What's up max, is it getting too close to home? I think rich assholes (Like you maybe) should pay the lions share of the taxes, and be denied loopholes and tax havens, If you want to make your money tax free, move to the Cayman Islands, Bye bye. Quote max: "Money is God" "I own most of you" "you are nothing but commie filchers" Quote Medicineman: "Fuck you Max, you diabolical money centric bastard". And the discourse rambles on.

__________________
Life is good, the water is sweet. The ground keeps moving beneath my feet.

:: Listens to a Vortex Open Up ::

There goes more American Jobs, as American Corporations become even less competitive.

Germany and Japan (key competitors) do not tax overseas profits, and actually allow corporations that are exporting goods to request a refund on the VAT for those items being exported (essentially negating any taxation of those items.)

One can only imagine that China also encourages exporters the same way (lower or no taxes on exported goods and foreign profits).

Instead of encouraging exports (and thus job creation/maintenace) the idiotic imbecile Obama wants to discourage them.

This isn't going to encourage manufacturers to bring jobs back, because the tax situation inside the US also makes it difficult for them to compete.

The end result is going to be more job losses in our manufacturing sector.

__________________
Libertas inaestimabilis res est - Liberty is a thing beyond all price. | Sic Semper Tyrannis

it has become to expensive to do bussiness in the USA

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everything i print write or show on here is a complete and utter lie..i cant help myself i am a terminal liar..all of this shit is just fiction and made up for entertainment purposes ONLY..

i wish sometimes you were smart enough to debate with.
the main thing is obama wanting to change night to day .
listen again. the standard of law will be turned around . you will be guilty untill you prove yourself innocent .
listen again ..you will be guilty untill you prove your innocence .
if you can do it to them . he can do it to you.
that being said about the main point of that article and what obama said about the change in law.
american corps are leaving never to return .enjoy your nice long great depression .its going to be a long long cold night for you and a bunch of others when you wonder where the money has went and where the jobs have gone.
why your home is in foreclosure.
it sucks to work your whole life to see the banks take what your labor has produced. they couldnt have taken it though had you not owed them money.
class warfare is bad and breaks a commandment med. though shall not covet.

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everything i print write or show on here is a complete and utter lie..i cant help myself i am a terminal liar..all of this shit is just fiction and made up for entertainment purposes ONLY..

I love how progressives hate the corporations, but turn a blind eye while Obama gives trilliions to failed corporations at the cost of future generation's economic liberty. Go figure.

Vi

__________________
Liberals are people that will believe anything twice.