Overseas Tax Savings for U.S. Drugmakers Under Threat
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The six biggest U.S. drugmakers avoided paying $7.05 billion in U.S. taxes last year by shifting their profits overseas. That’s almost double the amount they saved using the same strategy 10 years earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
For years, multinationals such as Pfizer Inc., Merck & Co. and Johnson & Johnson have been moving ownership of patents and trademarks to subsidiaries in low- or no-tax countries. This has allowed drug companies, as well as businesses in several other industries, to skirt paying U.S. taxes on sales of those products unless the money is returned home.