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Tax Transparency

Multinational companies do not publicly report on where they are making their money or what taxes they are paying to whom.  Investors, policymakers, and citizens have no idea exactly how they are gaming the system—what they tell us versus what they tell other countries.  They should have to write it down in one place and report it on a country-by-country basis, so that the public, policymakers, and shareholders can see what they are really paying.

Facebook Facing Shareholder Scrutiny for its Offshore Tax Avoidance

In recent months, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been hauled before lawmakers in the United States and the European Union to respond to criticism of the company’s privacy policies and sharing of user data. Now the company’s dodgy tax practices are facing increased scrutiny from an even more important source: some of its own shareholders. In advance of its annual shareholders meeting on May 31, Facebook was confronted with a shareholder resolution (Proposal 8 on pg. 59) asking it to endorse a set of principles to guide its tax policy and to ensure that such principles consider the impact of its tax strategies on local economies and public services. The resolution is a signal from a group of concerned shareholders that Facebook’s tax avoidance hurts its reputation, the communities in which it operates, and creates financial risks to the company’s shareholders.

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Facebook Shareholders to Vote on Responsible Tax Principles

Tax Experts Travel to California to Present Proposal following November’s Paradise Papers Exposé
SAN FRANCISCO, California / WASHINGTON, D.C. — Facebook investors will vote Thursday on a proposal to require the company’s board to adopt responsible tax principles following the release of November’s Paradise Papers exposé, which exposed the structures behind massive tax dodging schemes of well-known multinational companies, including Apple, Facebook, and Nike.

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Reuters: Tax activists slam U.S. reporting exemption for defense firms

Tax activists this week criticized a U.S. government move to exempt large defense contractors from a financial disclosure rule meant to fight international tax dodging, saying the need for a national security exemption was unproven.

The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition’s criticism came after the U.S. Treasury and Internal Revenue Service sided in late March with defense contractors that had asked the agencies for the exemption.

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Briefing Memo: Ending Offshore Tax Avoidance

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.

The tax system under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act includes loopholes and incentives to shift money and jobs overseas.

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