The FACT Coalition sent this memo to the Trump-Pence Presidential Transition Team regarding actions to combat terror financing; criminal money laundering; and waste, fraud, and abuse in government contracting.
Conservative Think Tank Scholars Note “Ending Criminal Secrecy Might become that Rarest of Political Beasts: a Truly Non-Partisan Issue.”
Scholars at the Hudson Institute recently announced in an article their support for action to curtail the abuse of anonymous shell companies. The conservative think tank’s Kleptocracy Initiative argues that the U.S. efforts around the world to stabilize governments and root out corruption are being undermined by an irrational contradiction where U.S. laws are at the same time providing a “safe haven to their dirty cash.”
There’s been a lot of talk recently about how the tax system is rigged. More and more we are seeing that wealthy individuals and powerful multinational companies are able to play by their own set of rules. According to a new report by FACT members Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ), the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), and U.S. PIRG, Fortune 500 companies are now holding $2.5 trillion offshore. By shifting their profits to tax havens, these U.S. companies have been able to avoid $718 billion in taxes. The legal loopholes that allow these companies to avoid their taxes are simply unavailable to average taxpayers and small businesses, who can’t afford to hire the lawyers and accountants to move money through shell companies created in tax havens.
The U.S. Treasury Department took a modest step toward countering corporate tax avoidance Thursday night by issuing a new rule aimed at preventing a tax dodging technique known as “earnings stripping.” While FACT members are still in the process of reviewing the 518-page measure, the rule is estimated to close about $600 million per year in offshore tax avoidance loopholes.
Loopholes in New Treasury Rule Perpetuate Problem of Anonymous U.S. Shell Companies—Enabling Terror Finance, Crime, and Corruption
WASHINGTON, DC – Leading anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, and tax policy experts expressed deep concerns about a set of rules and proposals announced by the Obama Administration last night in the wake of the so-called “Panama Papers” revelations.
Following Panama Papers: Faith, Small Business, Law Enforcement, and Local Leaders Descend on Washington for Bi-Partisan Tax and Transparency Solutions
April 11–13, 2016
More than 70 faith leaders, small business owners, local leaders, and public interest advocates from 25 states will be on Capitol Hill this week to urge lawmakers to support tax and transparency legislation that benefits small businesses, taxpayers, and vulnerable communities.
U.S. the 2nd Easiest Place in the World to Open Anonymous Shell Companies to Launder Money
70+ Faith Leaders, Small Business Owners, Citizen-Lobbyists Headed to Washington Next Week to Call on Lawmakers to End Abuse of Anonymous Companies
WASHINGTON, DC — A trove of more than 11 million documents from a Panamanian law firm leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists shows the deadly, devastating toll that anonymous companies take on the world, highlighting the need for U.S. action, according to the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition.
