The Government Accountability Office has cited a number of insurance companies, including American International Group, as having subsidiaries in areas classified as tax-havens. The list mentions property-casualty insurers, life insurers and health insurers including Berkshire Hathaway, the Hartford, MetLife, Travelers and United Health.
Obviously the $h*t is much deeper than the reported story indicates – the 63-page GAO report, International Taxation: Large U.S. Corporations and Contractors with Subsidiaries in Jurisdictions Listed as Tax Havens or Financial Privacy Jurisdictions only looks at publicly the 100 largest publicly traded corporations and 100 largest publicly traded contractors.
Privately held companies and contractors were beyond the scope of the GAO investigation and report; therefore, insurers and the affiliated companies of the insurance industry that are privately owned, including those insurers that operate as a mutual fund, aren’t included even when their use of tax havens and/or privacy jurisdictions is well known.
GAO prepared the report at the request of Congress and acknowledged:
Today, corporations operate in a global economy and most of the largest U.S. corporations have subsidiaries in other countries. Corporations have foreign subsidiaries for a variety of business reasons, including reasons related to taxes. For example, a corporation may establish a foreign subsidiary to take advantage of sales opportunities, natural resources, or favorable labor conditions.
Keeping all of those reasons in mind, take a look at the results of the GAO investigation: Continue reading “More $h*t for taxpayers to wipe revealed in GAO report”