Monday, April 22, 2013

Google,Amazon,Starbucks ALL paying virtually no tax thru these loopholes...NOT GOOD CORPORATE CITIZENS -IMMORAL


The 12th of November was a day of unusually entertaining political theatre at Westminster.
Three executives from large multinational corporations were ritually flagellated by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee as penance for the alleged tax sins of their employers.
Starbucks' head of finance, Troy Alstead, was forced to portray his company as a perennial commercial flop, in order to account for its peculiar failure to record a taxable profit in the UK for 14 out of the last 15 years.
He was followed by Amazon's Andrew Cecil, who was reduced to stuttering when he was accused of being "pathetic" for his inability to disclose something as basic as how much of his firm's European sales came from the UK last year.
Last up was Google's Matt Brittin. In contrast to his two peers, Mr Brittin did not seek to evade or apologise.
Yes, of course Google minimises its tax bill, by operating in Bermuda and Ireland, he said. Google had a duty to its shareholders to minimise its costs. And besides, the UK still benefited from Google's many free products, not least its search engine, which were engineered by thousands of employees in California.
But although Mr Brittin acquitted himself best by virtue of sheer bravado, was his confidence justified?
Do companies like his pay their fair share or not? And if not, how do they get around the rules?
Location, location, location
The planet is littered with hundreds of different nations and legal jurisdictions, each with its own peculiar set of tax rules.
For a big internationally-nimble corporation and its financial advisers, this presents an intellectual challenge akin to Sudoku - where to locate its many different subsidiaries and how best to arrange their affairs to minimise the total tax bill?
"What you've got is companies undoubtedly under competitive pressure to reduce cost, and tax is a cost," explains John Whiting, director of HMRC's Office of Tax Simplification.
This was particularly true over the 10 or 20 years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, a period that saw the unprecedented spread and consolidation of global businesses across the planet.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

NYC man convicted of stealing toner worth $376K


NEW YORK (AP) — A former employee of a New York city law firm has been convicted of stealing more than $376,000 worth of copy machine toner from the firm.
Thirty-nine-year-old Adrian Rodriguez pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny for his thefts from the firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said Tuesday that Rodriguez ordered more than $376,000 worth of toner from vendors between 2010 and 2012. Prosecutors said Rodriguez then resold the black ink toner for $10 per box and the color ink toner for $15 per box.
The cartridges were worth $80 to $259 apiece.
Officials have said Rodriguez's scheme was part of a growing black market for toner cartridges and other office supplies.
He will be sentenced May 21


Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/article/NYC-man-convicted-of-stealing-toner-worth-376K-4438955.php#ixzz2Qel52L8T

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Jon Stewart Unveils The Republican Black Strategy of the last 60 years

Jon Stewart Mocks Rand Paul's Howard Speech: 'You Can't Yadda Yadda Yadda The Last 60 Years' (VIDEO)


Jon Stewart began Thursday's "Daily Show" with a look at Rand Paul's visit to Howard University. After announcing that people told him he was either "brave or crazy" to go speak at the traditionally black school, Paul attempted to convince the students that the Republican party has always been on the right side of civil rights history... if you disregard the last 60 years, of course.
Stewart was quick to point out that "you can't just yadda yadda yadda the last 60 Republican years," noting that it was the racist response to the civil rights movement that led many Democrats to leave their party and join the Republicans, changing the face of the GOP forever.
Watch part one with Stewart above and check out "Senior Black Correspondent" Larry Wilmore's in-depth analysis of Paul's speech below.




http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca...

Sunday, April 7, 2013

North Korea ready to launch a missile



A top South Korean national security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats' safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North's clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul.

Read Full Article Here

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