Comedian John Oliver pulled no punches (well, he pulled a few) during Sunday night's episode of "Last Week Tonight," especially in the feature segment in which he eviscerated the U.S. tax system by revealing just how endlessly favorable it is to corporations and the wealthy at the expense of everybody else.
Citing last year's massive tax giveaway to the rich, which will ultimately raise taxes on tens of millions lower-income families, Oliver says, "We just had a huge chance to reform our tax code and we absolutely blew it."
As The Week details, Oliver goes on to pillory the ability for corporations to avoid taxes by exploiting loopholes and a worldwide web of tax shelters:
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Oliver walked through the "long and infuriatingly proud history" of corporate tax avoidance, with a special nod to Apple and Google for being top "innovators in weaselly accounting," though GE and other huge companies paid zero federal taxes for much of this century. The new tax bill does force some of those companies to pay taxes on money stashed overseas, but at bargain rates — a gamble that did not pay off in terms of job creation in 2004, and probably won't this time either, Oliver said.
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