Whenever progressives float an idea to make our economy more just, powerful politicians assert that we can’t pay for it. They would have us believe that there’s no money to rebuild our roads and bridges, find new medical cures, make college affordable or take any action at all to lessen income inequality.
Meanwhile, their friends in corporate America are stashing $2.1 trillion in profits offshore—most of it in tax havens. As long as this money is overseas, these hugely profitable companies avoid paying US taxes on it. All together, this form of tax avoidance—made legal by a Congress subservient to corporate interests—amounts to about $600 billion in lost government revenue.
In August, David Cay Johnston detailed what we need to do to stop corporations from sitting on hoards of untaxed cash. And in June, Michelle Chen looked into a federal investigation that found that Walmart alone holds $76 billion in assets in overseas tax havens.
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