Sheldon Whitehouse: “I thank Chairman Wyden. This is a really important investigation, and it bears very exactly on the Republican tax scam…”

“I thank Chairman Wyden. This is a really important investigation, and it bears very exactly on the Republican tax scam that is being cooked up right now here in this Congress, because one of the keys to the Republican tax scam that is being cooked up right here in this Congress is giving big corporations the ability to move their profits--and even their jobs--offshore, away from America, and get a tax break for doing that. And the total value of this tax break--the award to big corporations from Republicans for moving American jobs and profits offshore--is running at about $140 billion that other taxpayers are going to have to make up. Big Pharma is the big winner in this offshore tax scam. If you look at Big Pharma's numbers, most sales are to U.S. patients. They sell their pharmaceutical products to Americans. But when you look at their financial reporting, 75 percent of their profits are declared as coming from outside of the United States. So you have some funky math going on here because we know that Americans are charged more for Big Pharma's drugs than people are overseas. They overcharge Americans, Americans pay the highest prices, and most of the sales are going to Americans who are paying the highest prices. So how is it that, when most of their sales are going to Americans, who are paying the highest prices, that is not where the profits are reported? The profits are reported from overseas, where they have fewer patients paying lower prices.…”