Episode Details

Mitch McTurtlefuck recently chastised Corporate America for butting into politics, which we all know is a joke. But it highlights the insidious nature of the relationship between American companies and the U.S. government. One of the biggest grifts of our time isn’t just the rapid rise of the billionaire class in this country, it’s the mechanisms that allow corporations to hide trillions of dollars from taxation. This week’s UNFTR delves into the movement to lower corporate tax rates that started in the late 70’s and explains how the tax evasion shell game really works. It’s the first of a two-part series on financial fuckery, much of which was devised by old you-know-who. #FMF

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Resources

HBR: Why Are Companies Sitting on So Much Cash? hbr.org/2020/01/why-are-companies-sitting-on-so-much-cash

The Atlantic: When the Top U.S. Tax Rate was 70 Percent—or Higher theatlantic.com/notes/2019/01/tax-rates-davos/581257

Bloomberg Tax: 10 Steps States Should Take to End Corporate Giveaways news.bloombergtax.com/daily-tax-report/insight-10-steps-states-should-take-to-end-corporate-giveaways

Politico: Actually, it was Democrats who killed the 70 percent tax politico.com/agenda/story/2019/02/05/democrats-70-percent-tax-rate-000879

Foreign Policy: To Pay for the Pandemic, Dry Out the Tax Havens foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/16/tax-havens-apple-costs-pandemic

Tax Policy Center: What is the TCJA repatriation tax and how does it work taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-tcja-repatriation-tax-and-how-does-it-work

Tax Justice Network: Financial Secrecy Index - 2020 Results fsi.taxjustice.net/en/introduction/fsi-results

OCCRP: Giant Leak of Offshore Financial Records Exposes Global Array of Crime and Corruption occrp.org/en/panamapapers/overview/reforming-secret-world

Tax Foundation: How Much Revenue Would a 70% Top Tax Rate Raise? An Initial Analysis taxfoundation.org/70-tax-proposal

FRED: Unemployment Rate fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE

Trading Economics: Corporate Tax Rate in the United States remained unchanged at 21 percent in 2021 from 21 percent in 2020 tradingeconomics.com/united-states/corporate-tax-rate

BLS: Inheritances and the Distribution of Wealth, Or Whatever Happened to the Great Inheritance Boom? bls.gov/osmr/research-papers/2011/pdf/ec110030.pdf

Tax Foundation: Corporate Tax Rates around the World, 2020 taxfoundation