The U.S. is the easiest place in the world for a criminal, terrorist, tax cheat, or kleptocrat to open an anonymous shell company to launder their money with impunity. Anonymous corporations are great ways to hide money and other assets — they can hold a bank account or buy a yacht. Criminals often layer anonymous corporations, with one owning another and so on, making it even harder for law enforcement to “trace the money” and figure out who is directing the company’s activity. It’s time to ending the use of anonymous shell companies as vehicles for illicit activity by requiring that the true owners of U.S. companies be disclosed at the time of formation and updated upon any change.
After months of anticipation, Rep. Cynthia Axne (D-IA) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) unveiled the Disclosure of Tax Havens and Offshoring Act last week to a chorus of civil society, small business, and investor support.
The FACT Coalition offered a blueprint to the Biden Administration on how the Treasury Department should draft the rule for a landmark anti-corruption and anti-money laundering law, the Corporate Transparency Act, enacted by Congress in January.
Over the past month, there has been an unprecedented global focus on corporate tax loopholes and profit shifting amidst reporting that at least 55 of America’s largest corporations paid no federal corporate income taxes at all in 2020. Since the dawn of civil society campaigning for international tax justice, this may be the closest activists have come to ending the era of tax havens and massive tax avoidance and it is increasingly clear to many lawmakers that corporations need to pay their fair share to help pay for COVID recovery programs, infrastructure, and other needs.
The FACT Coalition welcomed the inclusion of increased funding for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in President Biden’s topline FY22 budget request released today.
These past few weeks have seen “explosive” momentum in the movement for tax transparency. The United Nations High-Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda (FACTI Panel) published their report in late February, recommending a broad slate of much-needed global reforms including public country-by-country reporting (PCbCR) of taxes and other financial information by multinational companies. This year, the Global Reporting Initiative put into effect the first global voluntary standard on public country-by-country tax reporting. The standard, known as GRI 207, has already attracted early support from Philips, Orsted, Alliance, and Newmont.
In February, FACT member Transparency international released a report outlining perceived corruption globally. Adding to a troubling trend over the last few years, the U.S. again fell in its ranking with its lowest score since 2012.
