Tech, Pharma Firms Lead Overseas Cash Stash Race

Mitt Romney (upper right) and
an Offshore Island Haven for Large Bank Accounts
(photos: Vanity Fair)

The next time you use a smartphone or a laptop computer, think about where your payment for these gadgets lands. The corner bank? No. A regional financial services firm? Nah. One of the New York money center banks? Well, yes and no. The nyet part involves the domicile of the funds. Major tech firms, including Apple and Microsoft, are hoarding billions in overseas bank accounts, principally to avoid US taxation. The si, si answer comes from the banks that have corporate headquarters or a significant presence in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

According to a Reuters article picked up by siliconvalley.com, the five leading cash stashers include the two tech rivals already mentioned, along with Big Pharma stalwarts Merck and Pfizer and old pal Google. The situation gets me so upset that I want to call someone on my smartphone and....hmmm, that won't do. OK, I'll go to my laptop and I send an e-mail....oh, that's a problem, too. I've got it! I'll call some firm's corporate headquarters. Since I don't have those numbers in my speed dial (there's that pesky cell phone again!), I'll look them up in.....uhhhh, Google. Well, that won't do. The whole thing is so upsetting that I'm getting a headache. Dammit! All my relief meds are either made by one of the Big Pharma firms!

So then I decided to eat to forget my problems. I took out a frozen burger. As I looked at it, I realized the possibility of the patty including a percentage of horse meat gave me the heebie jeebies. I went to bed hungry, with a headache, and wondering if my gadgets were tracking my every move and my every move.

Call it a taxing situation.