Caterpillar Exec to Congress in May: "Make Our Crime Legal"

I was cruising through Reddit last night when this item caught my attention:

Bloomberg News:

Caterpillar Inc. used offshore subsidiaries in Switzerland and Bermuda to avoid about $2 billion in U.S. taxes from 2000 to 2009, boosting its earnings through a "tax and financial statement fraud," according to a Caterpillar executive’s lawsuit.

The company, the world's largest construction-equipment maker, sold and shipped spare parts globally from an Illinois warehouse while improperly attributing at least $5.6 billion of profits from those sales to a unit in Geneva, according to the suit filed by Daniel J. Schlicksup. He was a global tax strategy manager for Caterpillar from 2005 to 2008.

Schlicksup, 49, sued in U.S. District Court in Peoria, Illinois, in 2009, claiming he was moved to a job that limits his career opportunities because he complained to superiors that the "Swiss Structure" ran afoul of U.S. tax rules. He's seeking a court order to give him back his old job and prevent any retaliation. He also seeks stock options that he claims were wrongly withheld as well as legal fees and punitive damages.

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A Free Ride for Corporations and the Wealthy

It's a terrible thing to be a wealthy person in America. In addition to having to associate with the rabble occasionally, one must also pay taxes. The taxes in America are incredibly high, especially on the wealthy, very wealthy, and stupid wealthy. People with piles of money are an oppressed minority, scorned by the public and taxed to near-starvation. Woe be unto the corporate boardroom set, for their lot is misery and affliction their companion.

Consider this chart showing the terrible tax burden the very wealthy carry, courtesy of Dave Gilson at Mother Jones:



Look at how much the rich are paying in... Oh wait, that says "savings." Never mind.

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