Flagging ships and paying taxes
Today in the News I heard of Haliburton moving to the United Arab Emirates to get out of paying taxes. I am personally not against corporations and I am not opposed to Haliburton per se.. Politically I am an independant that is severely right-wing with a hint of libertarianism. I think that this move will be great for Haliburton, but it sucks for the American people.
I like listening to talk radio. I am a big fan of Micheal Savage. Here is a link to his website http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/index.html and there is also his news source in here- for a few days at least. Haliburton is doing what a lot of shipping companies do. They are going 'foriegn flagged' now- what does this mean? Most US companies that have foriegn flagged ships are still US based companies that pay taxes. But when the company relocates to another country it no longer pays tax. Nothing. NO CORPORATE TAX.
Should they continue to get US contracts? Think about this really hard before you answer. Haliburton is the LARGEST US defense contractor. A large amount of tax dollars go to them to pay for their services. But now they will not pay taxes. The US is going to lose a lot of money because there will be a large outflow of money and nothing is coming back.
Ships that are foriegn flagged are generally excluded from government contracts. So should Haliburton be excluded from government contracts?
What about security? Do you want the radical islamists working for Haliburton making the parachutes for our paratroopers? Putting anthrax inthe MRE's?
Now part of me wants to be good to the corporations because they are the bread and butter that keeps our economy running. BUT- This is bad for America and I am against anything that is bad for you and me. Libertarians generally believe that you can "do what you want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else."
This kind of thing will hurt us.
5 comments:
The shipping industry is held up to a higher standard. I think that the Jones Act should be repealed so that shipping can have the same beenfits of 'outsourceing' that other companies do.
Who ever wrote this is a idiot!! The shipping industry does outsource. It is called re-flagging ships, and some of the biggest shipping companies in the world are US companies with all ships of different flags with non-american crews. The Jones act ( which states a vessel trading from US port to US port has to be US flagged and manned.) This act should never be repealed.
I wouldn't call this person an idiot. Of course the shipping industry does outsouce, but in the context of what I am talking about, government contracts- ships are barred from doing work for the US government if they are flagged in another country.
So yes, they do re-flag ships, but there are some caveats to doing all this. You need to read the laws on the books before calling anyone an idiot. The jones act shouldn't be repealed per se, but there are some flaws to it.
Thanks for leaving comments
Mr. Editor,
I think you are being nice by saying I should not call this guy a idiot. But I know you are just trying to be nice. It is good to see you agree with me about keeping the jones act. Also companies should have to be located in the U.S. and owned by U.S. citizen to get a government contract. I believe that is in the Jones act too if you read it. So repealing the jones Act would let non-u.s. flagged ship move military cargo? Not a good idea!!! For Hallaburton to move overseas, I think they should not get government contracts either.
Repealing the Jones Act would be horrible. There might be a few things that could change, but it needs to stay or we will end up like China- with abused workers.
There is a lot more to the Jones Act than just flagging ships. It is important because it protects mariners from abuse by greedy shipping companies- injured workers are entitled to be paid maintenance and cure to compensate them for thier time of disability and doctors expenses.
_if you can't go to sea you can't earn a living. Ships dont take injured crewmen.
Getting rid of the Jones act wuold hurt lots of people.
Post a Comment