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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.

Study Highlights How Rigged Tax Code Hurts Small Business, Middle Class Americans

Multinational Companies Dodging $147 Billion Annually in State and Federal Taxes through Offshore Tax Schemes
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new report from U.S. PIRG Education Fund finds that multinational companies dodge an estimated $147 billion in federal and state taxes annually through offshore tax haven loopholes.  The report explains the staggering cost to small businesses and individual taxpayers, who are forced to shoulder the increased tax burden.

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Level the Playing Field: Tax Reform Americans Deserve

As Congress Pursues Tax Reform, FACT Urges Lawmakers to Close Loopholes, Hold Large Companies Accountable, and Refrain from Disadvantaging Wholly Domestic and Smaller Businesses
Corporate tax reform is coming.  The central question is: what will it look like?  After a campaign in which both presidential candidates pledged to close loopholes that allow corporations to dodge taxes and stop companies from booking their profits overseas, is there the political will to do it?

One current proposal in Congress calls for a 0% tax on profits booked offshore.  Yes, the proposal is for 0%. That is not a typo.  Given the campaign rhetoric, that seems antithetical to cracking down on corporate tax dodging. But that hasn’t stopped Representative John Delaney (D-MD) from pushing a bill that would do just that.  Bad enough that House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and the President-elect have suggested giveaway-corporate-tax rates of between 8% and 10% on offshore profits — but the new starting point appears to be zero.

Sadly, the rate is only a part of the problem and, in some ways, the lesser of the evils. These proposals leave in place all of the loopholes that enable companies to move money and jobs overseas. They allow multinational companies to continue to defer paying taxes on profits booked offshore until the next giveaway — referred to in policy circles as a tax ‘holiday.’  These ‘holidays’ reward a small number of very large corporations — just 30 Fortune 500 companies hold 65% of the estimated $2.6 trillion in offshore profits — with a special tax rate (or no tax rate).  That leaves domestic companies, smaller businesses, and individuals to pick up the tab (and, it’s a large tab: Citizens for Tax Justice estimates that Fortune 500 companies now owe more than $700 billion in unpaid taxes on their earnings booked offshore).

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Treasury Department

Coalition Welcomes Rule to Stem Multinational Corporate Tax Avoidance

Treasury Finalizes Anti-Inversion Rules Tackling “Earnings Stripping”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of the Treasury finalized a long-awaited rule Thursday aimed at countering multinational tax avoidance, in a move welcomed by the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition (FACT Coalition).

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Tax Notes Op-Ed: What Apple Teaches About How Not to Reform Corporate Taxes

In this article—originally published in Tax Notes—FACT Executive Director Gary Kalman uses the recent Apple tax ruling by the European Commission to identify problems with proposals for a territorial tax system in the United States. He argues that policymakers should instead focus on ending deferral, requiring public country-by-country reporting, and adopting provisions of the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act.

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FACT Sheet: Questions & Answers about Territorial Corporate Tax Systems

A central theme of corporate tax reform is how to create a system that works in a global economy. Several proposals have called for a territorial corporate tax system — a system in which a company only pays taxes on what it claims as profits in a given country rather than looking at the companies’ global footprint.

Below are questions and answers about territorial tax systems as outlined in recent reform proposals.

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New Report: Multinationals Dodging $718bn in U.S. Taxes on Profits Booked Offshore

New Analysis Underscores Need to End Deferral, Boost Transparency of Companies’ Offshore Tax Practices
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The largest American companies have stashed nearly $2.5 trillion in profits offshore allowing them to dodge $718 billion in U.S. taxes, according to a new report released Tuesday by Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ), the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund—all members of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition (FACT Coalition).

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