>If Merck makes a boatload of money off of this, the taxpayers will indeed be taking a cut.
Merck's effective tax rate was 15% in 2019 and 20% in 2020[0]
They make boatloads of money by underpaying their taxes [1]:
In 2004 Merck disclosed that it might owe the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) some $2 billion after the agency notified the company that it was disallowing deductions Merck had taken since 1993 relating to a partnership set up in 2003 as a vehicle for obtaining financing for the acquisition of Medco.
In 2006 the Wall Street Journal reported that Merck had set up a subsidiary in Bermuda that, in partnership with a British bank, was given title to the patents for the company’s blockbuster cholesterol drugs Zocor and Mevacor, thus saving Merck an estimated $1.5 billion in federal taxes over ten years.
Shortly thereafter, Merck disclosed that it was embroiled in four separate tax disputes in the United States and Canada with total potential liabilities of more than $5 billion. In 2007 the IRS announced that Merck had agreed to pay $2.3 billion to settle its federal tax disputes.
They also make additional boatloads of money overcharging Medicare/Medicaid:
In 2008 Merck agreed to pay the federal government more than $650 million to settle charges that the company routinely overbilled Medicaid and other government programs and made illegal payments to healthcare professionals to induce them to prescribe its products.
In December 2011 the Massachusetts attorney general announced that Merck would pay $24 million as its part of a $47 million settlement reached with 13 drugmakers to resolve allegations that they overcharged the state’s Medicaid program.
In 2012 the Louisiana attorney general announced that Merck and four other companies would pay a total of $25.2 million to resolve allegations that they overcharged the state’s Medicaid program.
That's a totally different conversation, and it has to start with what we mean when we say 'fair'. My definition is very likely different than yours in the context of taxes.
Merck's effective tax rate was 15% in 2019 and 20% in 2020[0]
They make boatloads of money by underpaying their taxes [1]:
They also make additional boatloads of money overcharging Medicare/Medicaid: [0] https://www.stock-analysis-on.net/NYSE/Company/Merck-Co-Inc/... [1] https://www.corp-research.org/merck