How one U.S. multinational used overseas shelters to slash its tax bill — and how the Biden administration plans to crack down on such practices.
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For decades, U.S. multinationals have been stowing trillions of dollars overseas as a way to slash their tax bills.
One of them, Bristol Myers Squibb — the country’s second-largest drug company — has been engaged in a setup that the I.R.S. says has deprived the United States of $1.4 billion in tax revenue.
The Biden administration is looking to put an end to such practices to pay for its policy ambitions, including infrastructure like improving roads and bridges and revitalizing cities.
We look at the structure of these tax arrangements and explore how, and whether, it’s possible to clamp down on them.
On today’s episode
Jesse Drucker, an investigative reporter on the Business desk for The New York Times.
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Background reading
The I.R.S. says that Bristol Myers Squibb used an “abusive” offshore setup to avoid $1.4bn in federal taxes.
In a speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made the case for a global minimum corporate tax rate, kicking off the Biden administration’s effort to help raise revenue in the United States.
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Jesse Drucker contributed reporting.
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