http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/02/15/1601881/carnival-cruise-hell-no-taxes/
while sensitive to the patrons plight, as a Navy man i know the fears of first time or more times being in the middle of the ocean with no power, Gulf of Tonkin N. Vietnam 1967.
but my interest in this story is the financial.
Carnival will be refunding money to the passengers of the ill-fated cruise and offering them a free trip in the future. (“This is my first and last cruise. So if anyone wants my free cruise, look me up,” one passenger said.) But one entity to which Carnival has not been giving any money is the national treasury — as the New York Times’ David Leonhardt reported, the company haspaid just a 1.1 percent rate on 11.3 billion in profits over the last five years:The Carnival Corporation wouldn’t have much of a business without help from various branches of the government. The United States Coast Guard keeps the seas safe for Carnival’s cruise ships. Customs officers make it possible for Carnival cruises to travel to other countries. State and local governments have built roads and bridges leading up to the ports where Carnival’s ships dock.But Carnival’s biggest government benefit of all may be the price it pays for many of those services. Over the last five years, the company has paid total corporate taxes — federal, state, local and foreign — equal to only 1.1 percent of its cumulative $11.3 billion in profits. Thanks to an obscure loophole in the tax code, Carnival can legally avoid most taxes.
would you for go your vacation on principle if you knew the company was not contributing and are just "TAKER'S"?
while it's good to see big business pay for their indiscrepancies when they seek to use the law to avoid paying the piper. wonder how much of their business is do to American patrons?
Carnival uses a tax loophole that allows companies incorporated overseas to avoid U.S. taxes, even if the bulk of their operations are based in the states.
shades of Romney
