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Video: Financial Services Markup of Oversight Plan

Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduces an amendment to add the issue of anonymous companies to the docket of the Terrorism and Illicit Finance Subcommittee of the Financial Services Committee.  Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, and Representative Stevan Pearce (R-NM), Chair of the Terrorism and Illicit Finance Subcommittee, endorse the amendment and call for action on anonymous companies.  The committee approves the amendment.

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Mnuchin’s Offshore Companies Underscore Need to Tackle Tax Havens in Tax Reform

Statement by FACT Deputy Executive Director Clark Gascoigne
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The offshore companies controlled by Treasury Secretary-designate Steven Mnuchin featured prominently in his Senate confirmation hearings held last week in Washington.  It was revealed that the former investment banker managed companies with assets in Anguilla and the Cayman Islands, both widely recognized as tax havens.

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Just the FACTs: December 22, 2016

2016 is coming to an end.  This year has certainly been an eventful one—we have witnessed  several document leaks revealing the closely guarded secrets of the offshore world, and a divisive election where the issue of tax avoidance and offshore loopholes were highlighted by both campaigns.

In April, the Panama Papers gave us 14.5 million documents exposing the offshore dealings of the ultra-wealthy, transnational criminals, multinational companies, and even world leaders.  One question often asked when the documents were released “where are the Americans?” the answer simply is that Americans don’t need to go abroad to set up anonymous shell companies.  It is, unfortunately, much easier for Americans to set them up onshore—in states like Nevada, Wyoming, and Delaware.

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Just the FACTs: December 9, 2016

For more than a decade we have seen a steep climb in the amount of money kept offshore by multinational companies.  This has resulted in $2.5 Trillion to remain untaxed—at an estimated cost of $700 billion to the US Treasury.  Throughout the 2016 election, both presidential candidates pledged to close loopholes that allow corporations to dodge taxes and stop companies from booking their profits overseas.  Though the follow-through has yet to be seen.  Many have even argued that Donald Trump’s victory was the result of a frustrated middle class that increasingly feels over-burdened, while they see the wealthy and corporations—following their own set of rules—shifting their responsibilities onto them.

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, shifting that burden instead onto small businesses and individual taxpayers.  Titled “Picking Up the Tab 2016: Small Businesses Bear the Burden for Offshore Tax Havens,” the study estimates that each small business, on average, owes $5,186 more on its annual tax bill to collectively make up for the federal and state corporate tax revenue lost to offshore tax havens.

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