These eight Massachusetts companies have used offshore tax havens
BOSTON – Tax havens are legal, but proponents of tax reform say eight companies headquartered in Massachusetts are using them and costing the state millions of dollars in revenue.
The MassPIRG Education Fund and Citizens for Tax Justice released a report on Tuesday saying 72 percent of Fortune 500 companies kept subsidiaries in offshore tax havens in 2014 and have a collective $2 trillion parked in Bermuda and other offshore locations.
Eight companies with Massachusetts headquarters have “at least 237” subsidiaries and $38.5 billion in offshore profits, the groups said.
The moves cost Massachusetts $600 million in tax revenue in 2014, according to the two groups.
The companies “use Massachusetts roads, benefit from our education system and large consumer market, and enjoy the security we have here, but are ultimately taking a free ride at the expense of other taxpayers,” MassPIRG’s Deirdre Cummings said in a statement.
The groups point to a five-story office building in the Cayman Islands, which is the registered address for 18,857 companies.
Companies like Wynn Resorts, which is building a $1.6 billion casino in Everett, and Netflix, the popular streaming service, have a number of “tax haven” subsidiaries, the groups say.
The eight companies in Massachusetts, according to MassPIRG and Citizens for Tax Justice, are listed below:
- Biogen in Cambridge
- Boston Scientific in Marlborough
- EMC in Hopkinton
- Raytheon in Waltham
- Staples in Framingham
- State Street Corp. in Boston
- Thermo Fisher Scientific in Waltham
- TJX in Framingham
