Turncoats in Bermuda shorts.

March 13, 2003 9:15 AM

Turncoats in Bermuda shorts. Arianna Huffington continues to skewer offshore tax shelters in her latest Salon opinion piece. Despite her patriot-speak denouncing these corporations for avoiding taxes while our young men are getting ready to die for their country, she does shine the light on a growing problem – “basic fairness and economic justice” – or, the lack of it. How can the average American not be outraged at this, when so many of us are expected to be able to account for even the smallest charitable donation we would dare to use as a tax write-off?
posted by archimago (11 comments total)

one-link socio-policito-economic Salon/NYT/etc posts - blah.

but yes, one more things to be outraged about. i'm losing track lately.
posted by gottabefunky at 9:28 AM on March 13, 2003

one-link socio-policito-economic Salon/NYT/etc posts - blah.

but yes, one more thing to be outraged about. i'm losing track lately.
posted by gottabefunky at 9:28 AM on March 13, 2003

oops. snarky screwup.
posted by gottabefunky at 9:28 AM on March 13, 2003

U.S. Out of Bermuda!
posted by billder at 9:33 AM on March 13, 2003

Let's attack Bermuda! Why? Tacky clothes!

On a more serious note, this is a part of the double standard for the wealthy and everybody else. MLK Jr., in his "forgotten years" recognized that the most pernicious form of discrimination was at it's roots socioeconomic and was killed fighting against aforesaid.
posted by nofundy at 9:50 AM on March 13, 2003

How can the average American not be outraged at this, when so many of us are expected to be able to account for even the smallest charitable donation we would dare to use as a tax write-off?

Maybe the American people should be outraged about their taxes then. How would it help the people to make sure even more people get caught in the same net?
posted by thirteen at 10:08 AM on March 13, 2003

If a company does more than 50% of it's business in the U.S. it should be forced to incorporate here and pay taxes here. I can't have my official residence in Bermuda and my car registerd in Mexico just because it's cheaper and easier. Corporations shouldn't be able to do things like that either.

Yes, I know they can't do EXACTLY that, but incorporating in Bermuda and outsoucring to India while refusing to let
people buy drugs in Canada is the same thing in my book.
posted by Dillenger69 at 10:31 AM on March 13, 2003

Why should I be outraged when corporations (whose job it is to make money) do things that are perfectly legal to make money?

Perhaps the problem here is not the corporations, but the politicians on both sides of the aisle (to wit: all of them) who are so easily and so readily bribed into creating a corporate tax code that is at the same time both incredibly complex AND literally filled to brimming with escape routes the size of four-lane highways?

Not to mention the personal tax code, which is a nightmare of Elm Streetian proportions.
posted by UncleFes at 11:36 AM on March 13, 2003

Feh. Forget the salon article. She just wrote a whole book about this.
posted by sodalinda at 1:48 PM on March 13, 2003

whoops! html skills...dwindling...

I meant, this book!
posted by sodalinda at 1:50 PM on March 13, 2003

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posted by sgt.serenity at 3:37 AM on March 14, 2003