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Close Tax Loopholes

There is widespread agreement, across the political spectrum, that the gaming of the tax code by multinational corporations is a problem. When profits and jobs are shipped offshore, we not only harm the U.S. economy, we fuel a tax haven industry that drains wealth around the world. We seek to fix the problem of large, well-connected interests gaming the tax system.

On Anniversary of Tax Law, Celebrations Are in Board Rooms — Not Living Rooms

Supporters of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act might have hoped for a more celebratory first year anniversary.  The public has not seen the kinds of benefits promised — few have seen anything close to $4000 raises, and real wage growth, accounting for inflation, continues to be sluggish.  And despite surging corporate profits, the stock market took a tumble as other factors weigh heavy on the minds of investors. Even the board room celebrations are muted at best.

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Senate Bill Would Plug Key Offshore Loophole and Reduce Incentives for Outsourcing in Tax Overhaul

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senate lawmakers introduced legislation Thursday that would make it harder for multinational corporations to game the offshore provisions in the newly adopted tax overhaul.  Sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the Removing Incentives for Outsourcing Act (S.3674) would ensure that tax rates for profits booked offshore are applied on a per-country basis, rather than on a worldwide average basis — reducing the chance of gaming.

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The Paradise Papers: A Year Later

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the release of The Paradise Papers, a leak that included 13 million documents from a large offshore law firm.  The leak detailed a number of tax avoidance techniques used by the wealthy and multinational corporations to avoid taxes.  At the same time, Congress was rushing to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

In light of the Paradise Papers revelations, we encouraged lawmakers to carefully review the information from the leak and consider whether their overhaul would address the tax dodging practices exposed.  They chose not to do so.

Unlike the earlier Panama Papers story, where Americans were notably absent, the Paradise Papers had clear U.S. connections.  There was extensive data on the tax avoidance schemes of at least 31,000 U.S. citizens, residents, and companies including household names like Apple, Nike, and Uber.  Rather than consider lessons to be learned around how policies might work in practice, lawmakers chose to ignore the warning signs.  The tax law passed just over a month later with minimal attention paid to any of the insights to be gleaned from the leak.  It should not be surprising that the law continues to encourage multinational corporations to engage in offshore tax schemes.

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‘Financial Exposure’ Showcases Tax Misconduct by Powerful Individuals and Corporations

The story of tireless congressional staff uncovering brazen misdeeds by powerful individuals and corporations in Elise J. Bean’s Financial Exposure has an anchoring quality in the context of rampant scandal that has come to characterize today’s politics. Bean’s account reiterates the point that tax avoidance and tax evasion were endemic to our financial system long before allegations against a sitting president brought them to the forefront of the public consciousness.

While the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) is an investigative body rather than a policymaking one, the inquiries into abusive tax shelters, secretive banking practices, and corporate tax avoidance that Bean describes illustrate some of the central policy problems plaguing the American tax system.

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