U.S. Multinational Corporations pay more taxes to foreign nations than the United States

A new Standards & Poors report (pdf) gives a terrible tale to tell on U.S. corporations moving offshore.

S&P's bullet point findings:

  1. In 2008 S&P 500 foreign sales increased 8.5%,
    while domestic sales decreased 0.3%
    .
  2. European sales represented 27.7% of foreign sales,
    with 9.3% coming from Canada. Asian sales decreased to 13.2% from 16.8% in 2007.
  3. It’s not just jobs exported - more income taxes were paid abroad than were paid to the U.S. government.
  4. Foreign income taxes increased US $11.5 billion or 9.3%, as U.S. federal income taxes declined US $43.9 billion, or 29.1%.
  5. Half of the issues still do not report sufficient
    information for a complete breakdown – big on pictures, short on tabular tables.
  6. Of the reporting issues, 47.9% of all sales were
    produced and sold outside of the United States, up from 45.8% in 2007 and 43.6% in 2006
    .

Wow. Remember, this data is from 2008. While the U.S. economy was in recession, this was terrible Q1 2009 numbers.

Six years ago U.S. equity markets made up 57.6% of world markets. Today U.S. equities make up 41.0%. Six years ago, the U.S. GDP comprised 29.6% of the world GWP, today it is 20.6%.

From Economy in Crisis:

for the first time in history, American multinational companies paid more of their income in foreign taxes than in domestic taxes.

Now assuredly we will hear somehow this benefits the United States, but with such strong evidence of jobs and now even tax revenues moving offshore, I'm sure these claims will become increasingly harder to justify.

Haven't you noticed how offshore outsourcing, global labor arbitrage isn't even in the public discourse arena? Pretty amazing considering the U.S. unemployment rate and with a report out like this one.

Standards & Poors also notes the difficulty in obtaining detailed data. This has been true generally, corporations try to hide, mask the actual figures on how many jobs are being moved offshore.

Think the United States doesn't need some major policy shifts against outsourcing, the U.S. labor force, taxes and trade?

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more globalization censorship

This is the headline on the Huffington Post:

Biggest Tax Revenue Drop since Great Depression....

But.....no mention whatsoever on the increase of both corporate and even income taxes in foreign nations!