CHESSNOID

I wonder if this story will get much attention.  Congress bailed out Wall Street even though the majority of Americans opposed it.  Even after half the money was spent and has proven itself to be a failure, they passed distribution for the second half.   How ironic is it that the bailed out companies that avoided paying taxes on their profits now have access to tax payer money to try to save their almost bankrupt companies! They kept their profits and we must suffer for their losses.

Washington Post:

Most of America’s largest publicly traded corporations — including several that are receiving billions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers to finance their recovery — have set up offshore operations that could help them avoid paying U.S. taxes on their profits, a government study released yesterday found.

The real news is that these companies we bailed out have tax havens and have avoided paying taxes on their profits.  Hard to believe?  It is true.

Of the 100 largest public companies, 83 do business in tax-haven hotspots like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands, where they can move their income into tax-free accounts.

It is all legal, but it could come to an end, given the dire condition of the U.S. economy and President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign pledge to close this popular business tax loophole. The Treasury estimates that it loses $100 billion a year in tax revenue as a result of companies shipping their income off shore, and congressional leaders are vowing to introduce legislation forcing big companies to pay full freight.

The GAO did not independently review company transactions to see if the companies purposely created tax-haven businesses to avoid U.S. taxes. But it said that historically, offshore subsidiaries are used for reducing tax costs and shielding transactions from public view.

“This is kind of like economic patriotism,” Dorgan said. “Americans were told you have to pony up some money to help these companies. And it’s rather infuriating for them to find out now that those companies, when they were profitable, didn’t want to pay taxes and found clever ways to hide their money overseas.”

Again, this is more proof the the bailout is a fraud. The original reason for the taxpayer money requested by Paulson and approved by the Democrat controlled House and Senate was to buy up toxic mortgages.  This was suppose to unfreeze the credit markets.

Here is an overview of some of the basics of the Bailout bill:

Buying Mortgages

The bill gives the Treasury secretary up to $700 billion to buy mortgages and other troubled assets owned by financial institutions under a new Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP.

The Treasury Department will immediately receive $250 billion to begin the program.

An additional $100 billion will be provided if the president certifies that the money is necessary.

An additional $350 billion will be provided if the president certifies that the money is necessary and if the Congress approves of funding.

The bill also establishes a program to allow the government to insure, instead of buying, some troubled assets held by banks.

The bill establishes an oversight board to monitor the Treasury’s use of the funds.
The bill allows the Treasury to establish rules limiting executive compensation, bonuses, “golden parachutes” and other incentives at institutions participating in TARP.

Participating institutions will also lose certain tax benefits related to compensation.

Not one penny was spent on buying mortgages or other troubled assets. CEO’s did get money that was used for compensation from these funds. This is why a majority of Americans were and are still against these FRAUD bailouts.