Fresh from Intel CEO Paul Otellini's February trip to Washington D.C. to announce a $7 billion investment programme, no doubt in the hopes of endearing Intel to the new US Administration, Intel appears to have found itself on the wrong side of the new broom sweeping the corridors of American power.
In a speech laying out plans to close down tax loopholes provided by off-shore tax-havens, President Obama stated his commitment to ensuring that all US citizens are "contributing their fair share" of taxes.
Obama referenced a building in the
"Either this is the largest building in the world or the largest tax scam in the world", said Obama, "and I think the American people know which it is."
According to Bloomberg news, Intel has been using off-shore tax havens and has subsidiaries registered in the Cayman Islands.
Since no fab, to anyone's knowledge, has ever been built in the Cayman Islands, no back-end IC assembly facilities exist there, as no one has put up a Cayman Islands semiconductor R&D centre, and since, so far as I am aware, there are no electronics OEMs in the Cayman Islands which might require the services of a semiconductor sales office, one has to ask: What are Intel's Cayman Island subsidiaries for?
Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy told Bloomberg that his company is rethinking its tax strategy. "We're studying the Obama proposal," Mulloy is quoted as saying.
We can all be sure that Intel will want to 'contribute its fair share' of tax because, on Intel's web-site, it states:
'Intel is committed to investing in the next generation of innovators and supporting community needs at the local, national and global levels to create lasting impact'.
How could the next generation of innovators and community needs be funded if companies don't contribute their fair share?
Quite.
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this is hilarious isn't it?
eventually greed has caught up with the capitalists... and the whole zombie economy had has been skewed to elite-interests is unravelling..
hurray for democracy. i'm sure a dictatorship would be more preferable for the landed gentry-scum.
Jimmy two times, it's amazing to see so many creepy-crawlies emerging from the woodwork; Companies, MPs, bankers, PE people, Hedgies etc all obsessed with greed while going to immense lengths to avoid paying taxes. So many scum-bags.