[bordercases]

There are massive cash reserves that Google and IIRC Amazon have that are on the books let alone in off shore bank accounts. There is room for better tax policy here for sure.

What should be more surprising though is how e.g. Google has ties to USG (through Schmidt) but can still escape harsher taxation. At the same time – maybe that's why they can escape harsher taxation... because USG benefits by other means.