Pfizer to Terminate $160B Merger with Allergan
If you believe giant US companies should pay lower taxes, I have some bad news.  That&#x27;ll be hard, because they already pay little or no US taxes now.<p>How much did Pfizer pay in US taxes between 2010 and 2012?  Zero.  What was Apple&#x27;s US tax rate in 2014?  3.7%.  These taxes don&#x27;t sound like much of a burden to me.<p>Like most Fortune 100 firms, through legal maneuvering, Pfizer has been offshoring profits for years in order to avoid paying US taxes.  At present, that has now added up to over $148B in offshored tax-free profit.  Apple and most other giant US corps are little different.  None are exactly being taxed into oblivion.<p>In fact, all these firms could repatriate those monies at tax rates substantially lower than the nominal (high) tax rate.  But that fact is conveniently overlooked when US corp. tax rates are publicly bemoaned.<p>For example, I&#x27;ve heard there&#x27;s a substantial tax savings when investing in US R&amp;D.  What&#x27;s wrong with that option when repatriating profit while lowering taxes?  And the sundry other imaginative ways available within existing US tax law, if CFOs weren&#x27;t so damned intransigent about paying the obligatory dues of doing business in America?<p>In the end, you can&#x27;t pretend corporations like Pfizer are aggrieved innocents in the current legal stalemate of unrepatriated profits that US corporations so volubly bemoan.  They knew the deal when they launched their business in this country.  It&#x27;s way too late to insist on changing the rules now.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnbc.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;02&#x2F;26&#x2F;report-pfizer-dodging-35b-in-taxes.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnbc.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;02&#x2F;26&#x2F;report-pfizer-dodging-35b-in-...</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.businessinsider.com&#x2F;how-much-money-apple-avoids-paying-in-taxes-2014-6" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.businessinsider.com&#x2F;how-much-money-apple-avoids-p...</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;billmoyers.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;05&#x2F;29&#x2F;10-companies-that-dodge-corporate-taxes&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;billmoyers.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;05&#x2F;29&#x2F;10-companies-that-dodge-cor...</a>