May 04, 2008

Your taxes pay so these guys needn't

Man, these clowns have no conscience. Back in March the Boston Globe reported that KBR was avoiding paying Social Security and Medicare taxes by creating shell companies offshore. Now the Globe reports that another defense contractor, MPRI, is doing the same thing.

Apparently, this is just fine with the lobbying group which represents government contractors:

But the business community has begun to defend the practice.

"There is nothing wrong with tax avoidance, particularly for work that is done outside the United States," said Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president of the Professional Services Council, a trade association of companies that perform government work.

Well, no, Mr. Chvotkin, except when the firm in question deliberately sets up a shell company offshore for the sole purpose of avoiding those taxes.

In 2004, MPRI joined with KBR and two other federal contractors to form Civilian Police International, a joint venture that successfully bid on a $1.6 billion State Department contract to deploy US peacekeepers around the world.

Three months after winning the contract, MPRI formed CPI Police Services Ltd. in the Cayman Islands. More than 200 Americans, mostly retired police officers, work in Kosovo and Afghanistan in full-time posts under the State Department contract, according to State Department officials.

The timing's a tad suspicious, wouldn't you say?

h/t Think Progress

Posted by Linkmeister at May 4, 2008 01:37 PM | TrackBack
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