American Tax Officer-Chapter 601 - 303: Is There Any Hope in Promoting the Tax Bill?

Chapter 601: Chapter 303: Is There Any Hope in Promoting the Tax Bill?

Under the nation’s watchful eye, it could be seen that the Speaker of the House took to the stage on the big screen, announcing the formal start of the vote on the aid bill for Country W.

The next second, vote counts began to appear on the massive screen hanging in the House of Representatives.

At first, the votes for and against were essentially even, but as time passed, a gap began to emerge.

In just three minutes, the number of votes in favor of passing the bill exceeded 200.

And when it reached 217 votes, countless hearts across the nation tensed up, because as soon as the number of votes in favor hit 218, it meant that no matter what happened, the bill would definitely pass the House.

However, there were no surprises to follow; the votes in favor not only surpassed 218 but stopped only when they reached 296.

“Alas, it passed after all.”

“Not just passed, but passed with an overwhelming majority; it looks like there won’t be any surprises in the Senate either.”

“100 billion, that’s our 100 billion, and in the end, it’s going to be cheap for those people in Country W.”

Though many had braced for it, the fact that the bill eventually passed in the House still prompted countless people across the nation to sigh in lament.

After all, we’re talking about 100 billion in funds, which is no small sum.

At the Los Angeles IRS, Nisen smiled, pocketing the money from the desk, and taunted Simmons and Bucky, “Heh, it seems you’ve underestimated the support for this bill in Congress.”

Bucky gave a bitter smile and responded, “296 votes, that’s certainly an overwhelming number. Based on our past experience with other bills, if the House gets this many votes, the Senate is almost guaranteed to pass it too—at least 90% of the time.”

“Just to roll out a bill, and they take away hundreds of billions that we worked so hard to secure. Congress makes it look so easy to take our money.”

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The billion was, after all, funds they had painstakingly traced from the Sackler family, Satoshi Nakamoto, and those cryptocurrency companies over countless days and nights—it was like their own laid egg. But now, someone had taken it away with the stroke of a law, which naturally left Simmons feeling a poignant sense of loss.

What everyone failed to notice, however, was that at the sound of these words, David’s gaze suddenly sparked with intensity, as if he had come upon an idea.

The words from Simmons had in fact awakened something in him.

Indeed, they had worked tirelessly to track down the Sackler family, Satoshi Nakamoto, and those cryptocurrency companies, finally acquiring a hefty sum, only for Congress to casually take it away with a new bill.

Given that, could their agency push for other bills, similar to a “black tax” law?

Like how the rich now are fond of creating family foundations.

On the surface, these so-called foundations are for charity, but in reality, America’s estate tax is quite high, with the upper limit reaching 50%.

That is, if you are a wealthy heir and your father suddenly dies, and you want to inherit this money, you’ll have to pay half of the family estate to the IRS first.

With such a high tax rate, it’s not just painful for the heirs to the rich, but it’s like cutting flesh for the average person.

But it’s different when a family foundation is established. The wealthy can place their assets in the fund as donations, and according to American tax law, charitable funds are basically untaxed or taxed minimally.

Otherwise, do you really think that Forbes-listed tycoons like Bill Gates, Buffett, and Zuckerberg are so philanthropic, always promoting that they’ll donate their fortunes and not leave too much for their children?

After all, Bill Gates and his wife had long established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, into which they’ve been transferring their wealth over the years.

Buffett, too, had founded the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation early on, even pledging to donate 100% of his wealth to it before he dies.

As for other tycoons, the vast majority have their own foundations.

According to David’s thinking, if he could launch a foundation tax bill that eliminated these tax exemptions, the resulting tax revenues would be astronomical.

However, on second thought, foundation tax avoidance isn’t really the biggest issue.

It is widely recognized that there are numerous tax havens in the world, places like the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, and the Caribbean region.

In America, the registration locations for well-known companies like Apple Inc., Google, Microsoft, and Oracle, are generally in these tax havens.

Take Apple Inc. for example; last year, they paid less than 6 billion US Dollars in taxes to the IRS.

You must understand, this is a company with a market value exceeding 2 trillion.

Yet, paying the IRS a mere 6 billion in taxes for one year could certainly be described as pitifully low, right?

So why did Apple pay such a small amount of tax?

Firstly, Apple has been arranging tax strategies on a global scale, by setting up subsidiaries in low-tax countries to transfer profits there, thereby reducing tax payments in high-tax countries like America.