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American Express’s Tax Avoidance Opposed by Most Small Businesses
Since 2010, American Express has boosted itself as a supporter of small businesses, by promoting “Small Business Saturday” as a counterpart to Black Friday. But American Express is no friend of American small business. Not only does it charge merchants high swipe fees, but it also uses and wants to expand offshore 
tax loopholes that most small businesses can’t use and want to close.
A short report from CTJ explains that the company’s SEC filings indicate it is holding $8.5 billion in low-tax offshore jurisdictions, including at least 22 offshore subsidiaries in 8 jurisdictions typically identified as “tax havens.” By its own estimates, American Express has avoided paying $2.6 billion in U.S. taxes by holding these profits offshore. To give some perspective, this amount is two and half times the budget of the entire Small Business Administration.
Even on the $21.3 billion in pretax profits that American Express officially earned in the U.S. over the past five years, the company has paid only half the 35 percent federal statutory tax rate.