WASHINGTON: The 50 largest US companies, including Apple, Microsoft and Wal-Mart, are parking about $1.6 trillion in offshore tax havens to reduce their US tax burden, according to a study published Wednesday.Poverty-fighting organization Oxfam America said the sum for 2015 was a $200 billion increase over the prior year. The report cites the companies' own data.While not illegal, the companies "used a secretive network of 1,751 subsidiaries in tax havens to stash" their earnings outside the United States, Oxfam said in the report released ahead of next week's meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington. "Tax avoidance has become standard business practice across the globe. ""President Trump promised to fix the rigged political and economic system yet his tax reforms will further enrich powerful corporates at the expense of ordinary people and small businesses," Silverman said. "The President and leaders in Congress must rethink their reforms and build a tax system that works for everyone and not just a fortunate few.

Source: Economic Times April 12, 2017 05:15 UTC