Tax Avoidance | Page 6 | The FACT Coalition

Treasury Toying with Making Tax Avoidance Easier

July 28, 2017

Sometimes the long drive towards a more equitable and reasonable tax system feels like it’s one step forward, two steps back.

This month, the two steps back we risk taking come in the form of unraveling a Treasury rule established under the Obama administration. Thanks to an executive order from the Trump administration, Section 385 is currently being reviewed by the Treasury Department. The rule takes aim at curbing corporate tax haven abuse — the hallmark of a tax system rigged for the few biggest multinational corporations. Preliminary estimates from Treasury found that it’s impact on offshore tax avoidance would be significant considering that the rule would raise $7.4 billion over 10 years.

Letter Recommending Improvements of the Tax System to the Senate Committee on Finance

July 17, 2017

The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition (FACT Coalition) sent a letter to Senator Orrin Hatch, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, with recommendations on how to improve the American tax system. The full letter can be read below or downloaded here.

Statement on Speaker Ryan’s Tax Announcement at the National Association of Manufacturers

June 20, 2017

Speaker Paul Ryan gave a speech on tax reform before the National Association of Manufacturers. In the speech, he restated his position that corporate tax cuts will create jobs and that the United States should move to a territorial tax system.

Tax Avoiding Companies Well-Represented at Tax Reform Hearing

May 18, 2017

Today the House Ways and Means Committee will hold its first tax reform hearing of 2017, which marks the official opening of the tax reform debate in Congress. True tax reform, if the committee sought to achieve it, could create more jobs and ensure companies are paying their fair share by cracking down on the massive offshore tax avoidance that companies engage in. Unfortunately, the panel of witnesses for today’s hearing is largely made up of representatives of various major corporations that are beneficiaries of the loopholes in our current corporate tax laws. Given this, it seems likely that these panelists will not push for a fairer corporate tax code, but rather a code that allows them to avoid even more taxes and incentivizes moving more jobs offshore.

The biggest tax avoider represented at the hearing is AT&T, which received $38 billion in tax breaks over the past eight years, meaning that it received more tax breaks than any other Fortune 500 company during that time. Over the past 10 years, the company managed to pay an average federal income tax rate of just 11.3 percent, less than a third of the statutory rate of 35 percent. In 2011, it managed to pay nothing in federal income taxes, despite earning $12 billion in profits.

Tax Experts Push IRS to Expose Multinational Tax Dodging

May 12, 2016

FACT Members, Partners to Speak at Friday IRS Hearing on Proposed Country-by-Country Reporting Rule
Multinational Profit Shifting Costs Taxpayers $111 Billion per Year
WASHINGTON, DC — The Internal Revenue Service is holding a public hearing Friday morning on proposed rules to crack down on corporate tax dodging by requiring multinational companies to report to the IRS their profits earned, taxes paid, and employee numbers on a country-by-country basis. Members and allies of the FACT Coalition are set to testify on the proposal, known as “country-by-country reporting”.

FACT Comments to Treasury & IRS on Proposed Country-by-Country Reporting Rule

March 22, 2016

The FACT Coalition submitted the below comments to the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service regarding a proposed country-by-country reporting rule.