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> No wonder the USA is the best in the world at being a tax haven. The US could hardly be any less of a tax haven.

freddie_mercury 9y ago
There is a large body of research and a wide variety of actors across the political spectrum who are all in agreement that the US is one the largest tax havens in the world. I can only assume that you've never been exposed to any of that and are simply making a knee-jerk reaction comment. Here's one recent report from just the past few weeks: "Report Says US Is World's Second Biggest Tax Haven": https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-30/u-s-seen-as-world-s-second-biggest-tax-haven-after-switzerland https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-30/u-s-seen-... There are many, many more such things written over decades. Here's a 2009 article from The Economist on the same subject of America's status as one of the world's premiere tax havens: http://www.economist.com/node/13382279 http://www.economist.com/node/13382279
gamblor956 9y ago
You're technically correct, the best kind of correct. Most countries around the world have higher effective tax rates than the US, and this was true even before the tax cuts. (People who claim otherwise are citing flawed political studies that ignore how tax deductions and credits are actually used by companies, and the ultimate average corporate tax burden. Even in industries subject to high effective rates, like retail, they still pay lower effective tax rates than their Euro counterparts. If they're not, they need to hire better accountants.) The US is also the premiere information disclosure haven in the world...as long as you're comfortable sharing your info with the US government. We require most other countries to share financial information with us but we don't return the favor. But the fact of the matter is that the US is not an actual tax haven. We impose taxes and enforce tax collections. There are real tax havens, like the Isle of Man or the Cayman Islands, which don't have taxes and which have legal entity laws that promote tax-shelter holding companies.

There is a large body of research and a wide variety of actors across the political spectrum who are all in agreement that the US is one the largest tax havens in the world. I can only assume that you've never been exposed to any of that and are simply making a knee-jerk reaction comment. Here's one recent report from just the past few weeks: "Report Says US Is World's Second Biggest Tax Haven": https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-30/u-s-seen-as-world-s-second-biggest-tax-haven-after-switzerland https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-30/u-s-seen-... There are many, many more such things written over decades. Here's a 2009 article from The Economist on the same subject of America's status as one of the world's premiere tax havens: http://www.economist.com/node/13382279 http://www.economist.com/node/13382279

gamblor956 9y ago

You're technically correct, the best kind of correct. Most countries around the world have higher effective tax rates than the US, and this was true even before the tax cuts. (People who claim otherwise are citing flawed political studies that ignore how tax deductions and credits are actually used by companies, and the ultimate average corporate tax burden. Even in industries subject to high effective rates, like retail, they still pay lower effective tax rates than their Euro counterparts. If they're not, they need to hire better accountants.) The US is also the premiere information disclosure haven in the world...as long as you're comfortable sharing your info with the US government. We require most other countries to share financial information with us but we don't return the favor. But the fact of the matter is that the US is not an actual tax haven. We impose taxes and enforce tax collections. There are real tax havens, like the Isle of Man or the Cayman Islands, which don't have taxes and which have legal entity laws that promote tax-shelter holding companies.