[p_alexander]

When Google transfers its IP that was created in the US to an overseas company "headquartered" in the Bahamas so that their subsidiary in Google Ireland can license the IP and not pay money to Google US, thereby avoiding US taxes, then Google Ireland certainly received benefit from the US government. This holds up so long as you believe that Google receives government benefit from US laws, regulations, and infrastructure, which I think they certainly do.

So it's not so much about forcing truly international companies to pay taxes in the US (though they should pay taxes if they are indeed subsidiaries making money from the work of a parent company when that parent company repatriates profits), it's more about exposing the legal-by-letter-but-not-by-spirit practices of companies that hide money generated in the US overseas.

See http://www.npr.org/2011/03/17/134619750/how-offshore-tax-hav...