Facebook Challenges $9 billion IRS Bill Over Irish Tax Haven in Court

Facebook Inc. and the IRS will meet in U.S. Tax Court on Feb. 10, to do battle over $9 billion the tax agency claims the company owes despite moving its profits to a low-tax jurisdiction overseas.

The trial is scheduled to begin in a special session of the court to be held in San Francisco.

The hearing comes as lawmakers come under increasing pressure from both left and right to act legislatively against Facebook because of how the company is thought to treat users, as opposed to anything arising out of tax issues. Republicans say Facebook is biased against conservatives and censors their pages, while Democrats claim Facebook favors President Donald Trump and tipped the scales to get him elected.

The yearslong tax dispute concerns Facebook’s policy of moving overseas profits to low-tax centers, which many U.S.-based multinational corporations do. Such practices are widely criticized by government officials in the United States and Europe, who claim the companies that pursue such an approach don’t pay their fair share of taxes.

The IRS argues that a bigger chunk of the company’s profits should have been taxed at higher U.S. rates, rather than being subject to the low tax rates in Ireland, where the company established its international headquarters.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/irs-and-facebook-to-meet-in-court-to-settle-moving-profits-to-tax-havens_3232639.html

By The Numbers: Trump’s New Budget Cuts EPA By 26%, Foreign Aid By 21%

President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2021 includes sweeping cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Commerce, and foreign aid, the White House announced Sunday.

White House officials confirmed to reporters that the budget will total $4.8 trillion, and assuming the economy grows at 3% each year, will reduce government spending by $4.4 trillion over the next 10 years.

The budget cuts funding to the EPA by 26%, foreign aid by 21%, and the DOC by 37%, though the majority of that could be attributed to the completion of the 2020 census.

Still, the budget requests funding raises for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Homeland Security, and NASA by 13, 3, and 12%, respectively.

For the first time, the fiscal year 2021 budget will feature a chapter devoted entirely to eliminating “wasteful” government spending, as previously reported by Daily Caller.

The proposal targets agencies with overlapping and similar goals, agencies that provide similar or identical services to the same group of recipients, programs without a clearly defined federal role, federal programs that mirror state-level initiatives and erroneous payments.

Additionally, the budget calls for the elimination of the following programs:

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Education and Research Centers

Department of the Interior’s Highlands Conservation Act Grants

National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures Grants

National Endowment for the Arts Endowment for the Humanities

Corporation for National and Community Service (including AmeriCorps)

Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought is expected to testify on the full White House proposal during a Congressional hearing on Wednesday.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/02/09/new-trump-budget-cuts-epa-foreign-aid-commerce/