America Is the World’s Newest Tax Haven
If I asked you to name the world’s biggest tax haven, you might come up with the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, or Luxembourg. Those of you following the recent series of so-called “corporate tax inversions” might guess Ireland.
You probably wouldn’t think of the United States, but the latest edition of Bloomberg Businessweek points its finger squarely at Uncle Sam—and not without reason.
In a New York Times letter, FACT’s Clark Gascoigne writes that Treasury’s plan falls short of what’s needed to combat the financial system’s role as a money-laundering haven.
To the Editor:
Re “Property Sales Get U.S. Scrutiny” (front page, Jan. 14):
The Treasury Department’s plan to scrutinize the secret companies buying real estate in New York and Miami is a welcome first step toward cleaning up parts of the real estate market, but it falls far short of what’s truly needed to combat the United States financial system’s role as a major money-laundering haven.
We need a system of increased accountability with a public registry of the people who really control companies. It’s time to shut down the ability to hide the owners and bring them out of the shadows for everyone to see.
A vote in favor of repealing FATCA sends a message: a message to foreign banks that they can get back to helping wealthy Americans hide their assets and use offshore accounts to evade tax.
While the dust is still settling from the mid-term elections and the pundits are trying to figure out what it all means, the American people have made their collective voices heard and delivered a message that they do not like the country’s direction. Exit polling data from Election Day showed clear majorities in against growing corporate influence on the political process and in favor of greater corporate accountability. The message is clear: Inversions must stop, corporate tax avoidance must end, and special corporate loopholes must close.
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.
