WASHINGTON — Manufacturing giant Caterpillar Inc. has used an aggressive tax strategy to shift profits overseas in order to avoid paying billions in U.S. taxes, according to a new investigative report by a key Senate Democrat.
Caterpillar has avoided paying $2.4 billion in U.S. taxes since 2000 by shifting profits to a wholly-controlled affiliate in Switzerland, according to the report released Monday by Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan. Levin chairs the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.