Statement by the FACT Coalition on ITEP Study
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new report published Wednesday by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) explains—among other things—how the House tax plan fails to curtail tax avoidance, contrary to the conventional wisdom in Washington. ITEP is a member of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition (FACT Coalition), an alliance of more than 100 state, national, and international organizations working toward a fair tax system that addresses the challenges of a global economy.
Clark Gascoigne, the deputy director of the FACT Coalition, issued the following statement welcoming the report:
“One of the purported benefits of the House tax plan is that it supposedly ends the offshore gaming of the tax code — but that’s clearly not the case. The plan merely changes the nature of the gaming, incentivizing companies to shift the location of sales rather than the location of profits. It is a gift to creative tax planners.
“Instead of engaging in a fairly radical and untested policy exercise to upend the international corporate tax system, a better approach would be to fix the current one. End deferral, strengthen anti-inversion rules and boost transparency of where multinationals book profits and pay taxes. These comparatively simple reforms would stop the gaming of the tax code and ensure that wholly domestic and small businesses can compete more fairly with multinationals. This is a pragmatic approach that solves the offshoring problem without creating a litany of new ones.”
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Notes to Editors:
- Read the full ITEP report, titled “Regressive and Loophole-Ridden: Issues with the House GOP Border Adjustment Tax Proposal”.
- Read FACT’s “Briefing Memo: Tax Reform — Important Steps to Fix the Gaming of the Corporate Tax System”.
Journalist Contact:
Clark Gascoigne
Deputy Director, The FACT Coalition
+1 202 813-0290
cgascoigne@thefactcoalition.org