

Want a 2,200% return on capital? Hire big shot Capitol Hill lobbyists and let them do their thing.



A study reported in the Washington Post Sunday says companies that hire lobbyists see $220 in revenue for every $1 it costs them.



University of Kansas professors looked at the impact of a one-time tax break that let multinationals "repatriate" profits earned overseas, cutting their tax rate from 35 percent to 5.25 percent. The over 800 companies that got in on the deal saved an estimated $100 billion in the process.



The Post says:

“The largest recipients of tax breaks were concentrated in the pharmaceutical and technology fields, including Pfizer, Merck, Hewlett Packard, Johnson & Johnson and IBM. Pfizer alone repatriated $37 billion, representing 70 percent of its revenue in 2004, the study found. The now-beleaguered financial industry also benefited from the provision, including Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, all of which have since received tens of billions of dollars in federal bailout money.”



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