GOP Tax Cut a Bonanza for Big Pharma
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
According to Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF), “(t)he Pharma Big 10 owe an estimated $133 billion on their $506 billion in offshore profits if they are repatriated to the US at the 35% rate (virtually no US corporate giants pay) less credit for foreign taxes paid.”
House and Senate bills on these profits would cut their tax liability “to 14% in the House and to 14.5% in the Senate (rates…based on cash assets…much lower if based on non-cash assets such as plants and equipment),” said ATF.
The Pharma giants would pay an “estimated $55 billion in taxes,” saving $80 billion based on the current 35% corporate rate.
They’ll be one of the largest beneficiaries of the great GOP tax heist. For years, they’ve been price-gouging US consumers, forcing them to pay double or more the amount charged people in other developed countries.
By tax-dodging offshore, they’ll save tens of billions of dollars on windfall profits. Candidate Trump promised to crack down on inflated drug prices.
As president, he supports them, along with Pharma companies benefitting from lower taxes if the GOP bill becomes law. Their gain is the collective loss for America’s working class.
“Creating a ‘territorial’ tax system (to) charge US corporations a much lower tax rate on their foreign profits than on domestic profits” will encourage them to invest more overseas and offshore jobs – polar opposite a key Trump pledge.
With help from Washington, drug industry bandits overcharge customers hugely. From 2011 – 2015, they raised prices an average of 40%.
Nine of their popular drugs mostly used by seniors rose most – an average of 71%. Through accounting gimmickry, they shifted most of their profits abroad, including on most of their US sales, using windfall profits to benefit investors.
From 2011 – 2016, they spent more on stock buybacks and dividends to shareholders than R & D.
Since 2011, their equity valuations exceeded S&P 500 gains by double or more for most of the industry giants.
If the GOP tax heist is signed into law, they’ll reap another huge windfall, along with other corporate predators – at the expense of ordinary Americans paying the price.
