Post by unlawflcombatnt on Sept 8, 2006 14:30:42 GMT -6
Below is another disgusting story about how a large Corporation has gamed the system, abusing government tax relief and subsidization to the maximum, while eliminating American jobs. In this case the scam-artist is Intel Corporation. Below is the story from the International Herald Tribune, reprinted from the New York Times.
www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/08/opinion/edintel.php
"Cashing their chips
The New York Times
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2006
This week, Intel announced that it would be cutting 10,500 jobs, or about 10 percent of its work force. The company's chief executive, Paul Otellini, said that while it was a difficult decision, the move was "essential to Intel becoming a more agile and efficient company."
That kind of cutback is par for the course in today's business environment. What's notable about it is that Intel was also one of the major corporations that took advantage of the American Jobs Creation Act, a one- year tax holiday for American businesses operating overseas that U.S. lawmakers claimed was going to act as an engine for job growth. By reducing taxes on repatriated profits, it was supposed to generate cash for companies to use in underwriting new hiring at home.
In reality, it was little more than a multibillion-dollar giveaway. Intel repatriated $6.2 billion under the program, which taxed foreign profits at a rate of just 5.25 percent, compared with the normal rate of 35 percent. Now, instead of creating new jobs, it is cutting existing ones.
Intel points out that it has begun construction on a manufacturing facility in Arizona and has upgraded another in New Mexico. But the company hardly required a tax break to do that, since it was returning record amounts of cash to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks last year.
The moral is this: Businesses will slash jobs when they deem it wise and build plants when they think it's cost effective. All the Jobs Creation Act accomplished was to hand companies a nice little present with a big, fat price tag and a misleading name.
Copyright © 2006 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com"
There's no telling how many cases like this there are. Clearly this is a case of the "American Jobs Creation Act" not creating any jobs whatsoever, but incurring a large cost to American taxpayers through lost Federal revenue from business taxes.
www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/08/opinion/edintel.php
"Cashing their chips
The New York Times
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2006
This week, Intel announced that it would be cutting 10,500 jobs, or about 10 percent of its work force. The company's chief executive, Paul Otellini, said that while it was a difficult decision, the move was "essential to Intel becoming a more agile and efficient company."
That kind of cutback is par for the course in today's business environment. What's notable about it is that Intel was also one of the major corporations that took advantage of the American Jobs Creation Act, a one- year tax holiday for American businesses operating overseas that U.S. lawmakers claimed was going to act as an engine for job growth. By reducing taxes on repatriated profits, it was supposed to generate cash for companies to use in underwriting new hiring at home.
In reality, it was little more than a multibillion-dollar giveaway. Intel repatriated $6.2 billion under the program, which taxed foreign profits at a rate of just 5.25 percent, compared with the normal rate of 35 percent. Now, instead of creating new jobs, it is cutting existing ones.
Intel points out that it has begun construction on a manufacturing facility in Arizona and has upgraded another in New Mexico. But the company hardly required a tax break to do that, since it was returning record amounts of cash to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks last year.
The moral is this: Businesses will slash jobs when they deem it wise and build plants when they think it's cost effective. All the Jobs Creation Act accomplished was to hand companies a nice little present with a big, fat price tag and a misleading name.
Copyright © 2006 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com"
There's no telling how many cases like this there are. Clearly this is a case of the "American Jobs Creation Act" not creating any jobs whatsoever, but incurring a large cost to American taxpayers through lost Federal revenue from business taxes.