Harry Reid: “I say to the Senator from Minnesota that this amendment is a good amendment. U.S. corporations have to pay corporate…”

“I say to the Senator from Minnesota that this amendment is a good amendment. U.S. corporations have to pay corporate taxes on what they earn here in the United States and on what they earn in other countries. But foreign corporations only have to pay taxes on what they earn in the U.S. So a lot of U.S. companies figured out that if they move their corporate papers overseas but leave their operations and employees and everything else here in the United States, they can get off the hook for most of their taxes. Tyco did that. It incorporated in Bermuda in 1997 and saved $400 million a year in taxes. Just by going across the water to file reincorporation papers. Stanley Works did the same thing and saved $30 million annually; Cooper Industries, $55 million, Ingersoll Rand, $440 million annually. These companies get all the benefits of being U.S. corporations, and their stocks are mostly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, but they are escaping U.S. taxes. That means that you and I have to make up the difference. I think the Senator from Minnesota is on the right track.”