News reports complaining about corporate “tax avoidance” should include…

… the total number of employees the corporation employs in the United States and the total amount those employees pay in federal, state and local income tax as well as what the corporation and employees pay in payroll taxes. Really … there should be some sort of journalism law.

It’s not like these big multinational companies do any good you know? Greedy bastards continue to do everything they can to avoid paying taxes. Of course … they are not breaking the law; they would be stupid and possibly liable to shareholders (people) if they did not take advantage of every valid tax-reduction practice; and they just happen to employ hundreds of thousands of people … but damn those greedy bastards. From Bloomberg…

Cisco’s techniques cut the effective tax rate on its reported international income to about 5 percent since 2008 by moving profits from roughly $20 billion in annual global sales through the Netherlands, Switzerland and Bermuda, according to its records in four countries. The maneuvers, permitted by tax law, show how companies that use such strategies most aggressively would get the biggest benefit from the holiday, said Edward D. Kleinbard, a law professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Bloomberg claims Cisco has been able to reduce their US tax liability by $7 billion during the last five years. That’s $1.4 billion per year, which is a paltry .0004786 percent of the 2010 federal budget¹. By suggesting Cisco should give that money back², it would effectively confiscate about one-fifth of Cisco’s 2010 net profits.

Yeah, I’m certain that would have zero effect in the number of employees Cisco has working for them or future innovation.

Cisco has about 70,000 employees world-wide, and about 55 percent are in the United States. That’s 38,500 employees who are most likely considered middle to upper class who – simply because they are employed – are contributing billions and billions in tax revenue to federal, state and local governments … thanks to being employed by Cisco.

That last paragraph does not fit the liberal agenda, so don’t expect to read that in future mainstream media stories about greedy corporations shirking their tax liability. In their opinion, Cisco deserves no praise at all.

¹ This does not take into consideration state and/or local budgets, as to which Cisco employees obviously contribute tax revenue to.

² It’s not their money don’t you know … it belongs to the government first and foremost and they will decide who gets what share.