Corporate Profits Sit Overseas : Tax Reform Needed

Why should corporations bring those profits back to this country just to have them taken by a government that hates corporations, except they don't hate the campaign donations they get

 And proposals for tax reform from congress, just who will have the spine to actually stand up for tax reform now or after November because after November will be the 2016 presidential elections, and then after that the next midterm elections, etc. etc.

The Untied States Government is dysfunctional at best and completely corrupt at worst. Why would anyone believe a politician when the say they are for tax reform but know they are lying just to get elected or reelected.

The prospects for tax reform or for that matter, any kind common sense legislation that will actually help the country, is only a dream, the reality is the rule of the day for most politicians is 'take the money and run', citizens be damned. Actual tax reform is a joke.

$2.1 Trillion in Untaxed Profits Abroad
Source: Kevin Drawbaugh and Patrick Temple-West, "Untaxed U.S. Corporate Profits Held Overseas Top $2.1 Trillion: Study," Reuters, April 8, 2014.

April 16, 2014

More than $2 trillion in foreign profits were held by U.S. corporations abroad in 2013, says Reuters.
U.S. corporations do not pay income tax on their overseas profits (something known as income tax deferral) unless they bring those profits back into the United States.

• Between 2008 and 2013, the amount of profits held overseas by American corporations almost doubled.
• General Electric alone had $110 billion overseas, followed by Microsoft (at $76.4 billion), Pfizer (at $69 billion) and Merck (at $57.1 billion).

This corporate tax issue has been at the center of congressional debate on tax reform. Some lawmakers have advocated getting rid of offshore deferral, and others have pushed for a "tax holiday" that would allow these corporations to bring foreign profits back into the United States at a low tax rate. Democratic Senator Max Baucus, former finance committee chairman, had made a number of tax reform proposals before leaving to become ambassador to China. Senator Ron Wyden has taken over Baucus' post.

Analysts do not anticipate any real reform action until after the mid-term elections in November, but Americans can expect to see a push for a tax code overhaul in 2015.