US corporations added at least $206 billion to their stockpiles of offshore profits last year, parking earnings in low-tax countries until Congress gives them a reason not to. The increase in profits held outside the US has been particularly large and steady at technology companies, many of which have assigned patents and other intellectual property to units based in low-tax locales. The corporate tax rate in the US runs as high as 35%, but companies don't pay US taxes on profits earned abroad as long as that money remains offshore. Multinationals reported earning 43% of their 2008 overseas profits in Bermuda, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland -- more than five times the share of workers and investment they have in those jurisdictions, according to a 2013 Congressional Research Service report. That report cites academic estimates of the annual tax-revenue loss to the US that range from $30 billion to $90 billion.