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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.

U.S. Tax Plan’s Spiraling Consequences for Human Rights and Poverty – At Home and Abroad

As the United States Congress considers drastically altering its tax code, my organization — the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) — has brought the spiraling human rights costs of the proposed U.S. tax cuts to the attention of a leading UN human rights official visiting the U.S. to look into poverty in the country.

On Dec. 1 – the morning before the U.S. Senate rushed through a lopsided and dysfunctional tax plan to unfairly benefit the top tiers of the economy while costing ordinary people within and outside the U.S. dearly — the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Philip Alston launched his official visit to the US to investigate the links between the growing phenomenon of poverty and human rights deprivations there.

In advance of his visit, we made a formal submission entitled Fiscal Impoverishment in the United States, warning that the Republican-backed tax plans would only deepen poverty and inequality within the U.S., while also enabling transnational tax abuse and undermining the ability of countries around the world to invest in human rights.

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Senate Votes to Increase Tax Avoidance, Offshore U.S. Jobs

Bipartisan Voices Agree that Senate Bill Will Increase Shifting of Production Overseas and Profits to Tax Havens
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate on Saturday passed its own version of the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” — legislation that will reward offshore tax haven abuse and increase the incentive to outsource American jobs abroad, according to the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition.

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Letter Opposing Senate Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)

The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition (FACT Coalition) sent a letter to the Senate opposing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, as it would create significant new tax incentives to move U.S jobs, profits, and operations overseas, while exploding the deficit.

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House Passes Bill that Offshores American Jobs and Profits

Bipartisan Voices Agree that H.R. 1 Will Increase Shifting of Production Overseas and Profits to Tax Havens
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” (H.R. 1) — legislation that will reward offshore tax haven abuse and increase the incentive to outsource American jobs abroad, according to the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition.

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Shopping for a Tax Haven: How Nike and Apple Accelerated Their Tax Avoidance Strategies, according to the Paradise Papers

A year and a half after the release of the Panama Papers, a new set of data leaks, the Paradise Papers released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) provides important new information on the tax dodging of wealthy individuals as well as multinational corporations.

The leaked data, about 13.4 million files in total, exposes the tax avoidance schemes and strategies of wealthy and powerful individuals, as well as large corporations. More than 7 million of the files were obtained from the offshore law firm Appleby. The 119-year-old firm is a leading member of the global network of lawyers, accountants, bankers and other operatives who set up and manage offshore companies and bank accounts for clients who want to avoid taxes or keep their finances under wraps.

It is no secret that corporations like Nike and Apple are holding billions of dollars offshore for tax avoidance purposes, but the Paradise Papers give us a deeper look into what these tax avoidance schemes look like, and show that Apple’s leadership has aggressively moved to reinvent these schemes while simultaneously proclaiming their innocence.

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Remarks on Press Call about Nike Shareholder Resolution on Responsible Tax Practices

Clark Gascoigne, the deputy director of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition (FACT Coalition) delivered remarks on a press call with reporters as the AFL-CIO and Domini Impact Investments announced that they were filing a shareholder resolution with Nike calling for responsible tax practices in the wake of the Paradise Papers leak.

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