San Francisco Chronicle: Should We Fear Big Tech?

Many tech companies have avoided taxes by placing intangibles such as patents and copyrights in subsidiaries in low- or no-tax countries, then attributing income likely generated elsewhere to those subsidiaries. Pharmaceutical companies have also employed this strategy, said Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a research and education.

“The tax code gives breaks of all kinds to all companies,” Gardner said. Some can reduce (their tax bill) to zero.” Utilities typically enjoy the lowest effective tax rates because they can write off large capital expenditures immediately. Read more