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.
Don’t Reward Corporations for Bad Behavior
With any opportunity that seems too good to be true, there is often a fatal flaw.
That is the case with The Partnership to Build America Act, introduced by Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.), which seems to be gaining more and more support and was even embraced by President Obama in his State of the Union address.
FACT and 24 other organizations sent the attached letter to the leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee in January 2014 regarding the tax extenders debate.
The FACT (Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency) Coalition along with partners from small business, faith, labor and public interest groups submitted a formal response to Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and the Senate Finance Committee, calling his proposed changes to the international tax system as falling short “…in three critical ways and leaves room for the offshoring of jobs and profits to continue.”
Nicole Tichon, Executive Director of the FACT (Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency) Coalition release the following statement on the budget plan released by senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI):
The FACT (Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency) Coalition today praised Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) for the introduction of the Sequester Delay and Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act. Among other things, this legislation would close or tighten tax loopholes that have been used by some of the most profitable multinational corporations – Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Nike – to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Some tax loopholes allow corporations to use complex accounting schemes to make it appear that profits earned in the United States are actually generated in other countries, often a tax haven with little or no tax on profits.
While citing progress in terms of closing offshore tax loopholes, the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) coalition believes that the tax reform discussion draft introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus falls short when it comes to permanently ending incentives for America’s biggest multinational corporations to shift jobs and profits offshore. The coalition found the proposal to lack some critical details.
