Caterpillar channeled 85 percent of its international parts
profits into what amounts to a tax shelter.
The dictionary defines
the caterpillar as a “wormlike larva” and a “crawler.” Also, that “pillar” part
of the word is derived from a French verb that means to “pillage, abuse,
mistreat.”
Good to know. Now,
meet Caterpillar Inc., the world’s largest maker of construction and mining
machines.
A recent report by the
Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found that this wormlike
behemoth has crawled through a tax loophole to abuse our public trust.
In recent years,
Caterpillar has quietly shifted some $8 billion in profits gained from selling
parts on the global market into a Swiss subsidiary in order to avoid paying
more than $2 billion in taxes it owed to our country.
Corporate officials
tried to bluster their way through a subcommittee hearing, insisting that their
offshoring of profits was merely meant to streamline the corporate flow chart.
It was “prudent,” said
Caterpillar’s top financial officer, “to eliminate the unnecessary middleman”
between the profits made on global sales and the paying of taxes on those
profits. That’s “absolutely absurd,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), the
subcommittee chairman.
Levin pointed out that
the “middleman” she was referring to is Caterpillar
itself. The Peoria-based heavy-equipment manufacturer designed,
made, and sold the products — and the only reason it wormed its profits into a
Swiss subsidiary was to cheat on the tax bill it legitimately owes in its home
country.
When you hear
right-wingers say that America doesn’t have the money for infrastructure
repairs, poverty programs, etc., here’s something to remember. Giant
corporations based in the United States, including Caterpillar, have hidden
some $2 trillion of
their profits in slimy offshore wormholes.
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is
a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. He’s also editor of the
populist newsletter, The Hightower
Lowdown. OtherWords.org