Big Biz, Dems Rebel on Offshore Tax Reforms

'Double Irish' and 'Dutch Sandwich' maneuvers save big bucks

(NEWSER) - Google has shaved a staggering $3.1 billion off its tax bill over the last three years by shuffling its earnings through Ireland, the Netherlands, and Bermuda, Bloomberg reports. Using common maneuvers like the “Double Irish” and the “Dutch Sandwich,” the search giant has brought its overseas tax rate down to just 2.4%, the lowest of the top five US tech companies. Quite a feat, says a former Treasury Department official, considering it operates "throughout the world mostly in high-tax countries where the average corporate rate is well over 20%." More»

Obama defends stimulus, pushes health reform

(NEWSER) - The White House is cracking down on its critics—and on laggards within the Democratic Party, too. Republican naysayers on the economic stimulus and health care are getting the roughest treatment, Politico reports. After Kentucky Sen. Jon Kyl railed against the efficacy of stimulus spending, four Cabinet secretaries wrote to his state's governor saying, "If you prefer to forfeit the money we are making available to your state, as Sen. Kyl suggests, please let me know." More»

They're mainstream while progressives are ignored: Dionne

(NEWSER) - Media coverage of Barack Obama is closed-minded and biased—in favor of conservatives. "Rush Limbaugh's sneezes or Newt Gingrich's tweets" circulate like wildfire, but criticism of the president from the Democratic left goes unheard, writes EJ Dionne of the Washington Post. The result is a skewed picture in which "Obama is regularly cast as somewhere on the far left end of a truncated political spectrum." More»

Support ebbs on left as Obama's security plans look uncertain

(NEWSER) - Democrats are having misgivings about the war in Afghanistan and the shuttering of Guantanamo Bay, particularly in the more liberal House, the New York Times reports. Though Congress is sure to approve another $96.7 billion in war funding, the House took out $80 million to close Guantanamo, saying the White House must provide more details. If Afghanistan worsens, President Obama could find himself on a short leash. More»

(NEWSER) - Offshore tax havens may not be fair, but they’ve been around for decades. So why is President Obama taking them on now, Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich asks in Salon. It’s not to try to keep jobs here, as the White House claims; the move might even drive jobs away. It’s far more likely this is a sly strategic move in the universal health-care fight. More»