Since when, did registering your Company in a far-off land, purely for the purpose of Tax-evasion become legal?

The Kennedy's have been doing this with their estates since Joe Kennedy died. Their inheritances are deposited in Fiji banks. Maybe you should also have a "sit down" with Joe Biden. Almost all publicly traded corporations have their main offices registered in Deleware, regardless of where they do business. Example: Enron.

Been legal for decades. For what it's worth the Tax Reform Act of 1986 {passed under the Reagan administration} made several changes to the laws that made it less favorable to domicile a corporation in a tax haven. Specifically today, some taxes are deferred until the funds are repatriated. An example is captive insurers (i.e. an insurer wholly-owned by a US corporation) in Bermuda. If they are only insuring the risks of the parent company, there is no element of risk transfer and the tax test fails. But, if they insure the risks of other companies for profit, the tax test passes and they can defer the tax on that income until they bring the funds back into the US.

It's never been illegal. Since corporate tax rates in the United States joined the rolls of highest tax rates in the world, it is also highly profitable. Do you Democrats not understand that this is what happens when you get tax happy? Please hear my out, my Democratic liberal friends. You just have no idea. Stop thinking about taxes as "fair". Start thinking about taxes as a "fee". Example: Little Johnny has a dollar a day allowance. He wants to get to the bubble gum shop to buy some bubble gum. The only way to get to the bubble gum shop is to take the bus. It costs 10 cents to ride the bus. So he gets on the bus, spends 10 cents. Goes to the bubble gum shop, and buys some gum for a quarter and buys a baseball card with the extra. Then he spends a dime to pay for the bus trip home. The bus makes 20 cents from Little Johnny every day. Well, one day, Little Johnny goes to get on the bus and now the price is 35 cents just to ride the bus! Now it's going to cost him 70 cents just to go to the bubble gum shop and then he can't even afford to buy a baseball card anymore. He can barely afford the bubble gum. So, what does Little Johnny do? He learns to ride a bike. Now the bus makes zero from Little Johnny all year long. Take this concept to businesses. Instead of a bus ride, companies are paying to do business in the United States as a United States company. Basically, they are being charged a certain amount of money just for the act of making money. If Uncle Sam raises the cost of making money in the United States, what the heck to you expect a business to do? Ride a bike (leaves the United States). If corporate tax rates in the United States goes back to the 10% to 15% rate, the companies would move back, and federal revenue from corporate taxes would increase, because they would actually make money from all the businesses that would leave the countries with higher tax rates to come here! How do you think we got so successful in the first place? Democratic liberals keep making laws thinking that the United States is in a vacuum, and there's not a developed or developing world out there that is hungry for corporate revenue. This is not a new concept to Republican conservatives. We've been trying to get corporate tax rates down at least into the middle of the pack for decades. Check out the tax rates internationally... [1] United States 15% - 35%. We're a "capitalist" country (L O L) with a 35% corporate tax rate... Let's look at some communist and socialist countries and their corporate tax rates: Canada: 19.5% China: 25% France: 33.33% Germany: 30-33% Norway: 28% Russia: 24% Vietnam: 28% You Democrat liberals are frighteningly uninformed, and yet you all claim to be "oh so well read". Oh, no no no. You're all so well "red". The United States government has among the highest corporate tax rates in the WORLD, more than 10 point higher than even communist CHINA, for heaven's sake! You wonder why America's economy is grinding to a halt? Because Liberal Democrats have pushed through tax policy that will guarantee that business is choked right out. Over one third of all profit goes to Uncle Sam. And this is news to you? Seriously? Wake up. Please. Wake up. **EDIT** It's tax AVOIDANCE. Just like many rich people are doing now, the companies that drove America's economy are emigrating overseas. As a legal entity, they get to leave the country whenever they want. What, are Democrats going to start passing laws that make it ILLEGAL for citizens and legal entities to leave??? That's exactly the kind of policies they used in Soviet Russia and East Germany. Of course you Red nutcases would try to lock us in. Go ahead. Try. You want to see a revolt? Done. Pass it. Do it. I dare you. **EDITx2** Some other respondents bring up very good points about profits in the United States being taxed in the United States, however, they are only taxed on net profits, not gross. So by accruing costs heavily in high tax countries, they reduce their tax exposure, while the profit filter through to the "home office". This is why so many companies still have their operations headquartered technically in the United States, yet their corporate "headquarters" are somewhere else with a lower tax rate. Peace and prosperity.

The place where the company is registered is irrelevant for tax purposes. If the company is doing business in the US then the portion of the business conducted in the US is subject to taxes. It is amusing to see people who are shocked that Haliburton left the country after all of the abuse and hatred they were given. Would _you_ stay in a country that didn't want you doing business there?

It's tax avoidance. I'm not a fan of Haliburton moving overseas, But it is an old company that has served Democrat Presidents well as they got US into WW 1&2 Korean and Vietnam Wars, Good one above,

It's a little more complicated than that...

They really don't teach anything in school anymore do they. Profits generated in the USA are taxed in the USA--- Profits generated in a foreign country are taxed by the foreign country. If a US Company makes and exports products to a foreign country from the USA-- the profits of that US Company are taxed. Would it be fair to DOUBLE tax US Corporations for operating overseas-- as some of you seem to be proposing? USA operations, sales, and profits----- are taxed.

Tax avoidance is using legal and lawful means to reduce your tax liability. Such as charitable donations or buying new computers so your business can improve its efficiency. Tax evasion is when you attempt to hide income and revenue from the IRS. When US companies move overseas, their main objective is to hide revenue. That is illegal.

Since campaign donations became the most important part of lobbying...