El món està trasbalsat per Wikileaks, i això ja fa temps que dura. A més no estan sols. Si algú vol saber per exemple la fiscalitat real de la indústria farmacèutica, pot consultar-ho aquí. La gent d'Open CRS publiquen informes d'interès que no arribarien al gran públic.
Pel que fa a la fiscalitat farmacèutica nordamericana, encara que semblaria que la taxa mitjana és equivalent a d'altres sectors, no és pas així. Destaco un paràgraf:
A comparison of average effective federal tax rates for the drug industry and major U.S. industries indicates that the share of the drug industry’s worldwide net income paid as federal taxes was similar to the average share for all industries from 2000 through 2006. This has not always been the case. For much of the 1990s, the drug industry’s tax burden was significantly lower than the average tax burden for all industries. But starting in the late 1990s, the drug industry’s federal tax burden began to rise as the U.S. possessions tax credit was phased out. Drug firms were major beneficiaries of this credit. They also appear to benefit substantially, if not disproportionately, from three tax preferences whose combined effect is not fully reflected in average tax rates: (1) the deferral of federal income tax on the retained earnings of foreign subsidiaries of U.S.-based corporations, (2) the expensing of research outlays, and (3) the expensing of advertising outlays.Si voleu saber el detall de l'evasió fiscal legal, el trobareu a la secció: "Transfer of Intangible Assets Like Drug Patents to Low-Tax Countries". Fort.
PS. Lectura necessària, Manuel Castells a La Vanguardia avui. La frase clau:
Como documenté en mi libro Comunicación y poder, el poder reside en el control de la comunicación. La reacción histérica de EE.UU. y otros gobiernos contra Wikileaks lo confirma. Entramos en una nueva fase de la comunicación política. No tanto porque se revelen secretos o cotilleos como porque se difunden por un canal que escapa a los aparatos de poderPS. Lectura imprescindible. NYT i el blog GCS
