Middle-Class Taxpayers and Domestic Businesses Foot the Bill for Offshore Tax Loopholes
Many Large U.S.-Based Multinationals Avoid Paying U.S. Taxes by Using Accounting Tricks to Make Profits Made in America Appear to Be Generated in Offshore Tax Havens—Countries with Minimal or No Taxes.
$129 billion to $205 billion: Amount that U.S. taxpayers lose in federal revenue to offshore tax haven abuse each year.
$94 billion to $135 billion: Lost U.S. revenue from offshore profit shifting by multinational corporations annually.[i]
$35 billion to $70 billion: Lost U.S. revenue to tax evasion by wealthy individuals annually.[ii], [iii]
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee unveiled legislation Thursday that would overhaul the U.S. tax system. According to the FACT Coalition, the bill would reward corporations that have shifted profits to tax havens.
Our tax system is fundamental to our democracy, delineating who pays the costs of a functioning civilization. But the system is broken, leaving an undeniable imbalance between the working and middle-classes and the wealthy and multinational companies. It would seem to follow then that the focus of tax reform should be around correcting this imbalance by targeting those that have gamed the system and flagrantly avoided taxation. Yet, the priority for Congress and the administration seems to be to exacerbate tax avoidance with greater incentives for shifting profits offshore.
There is currently $2.6 trillion booked offshore — untaxed — by multinational companies. This is the result of a gaping loophole for multinationals known as deferral, where a company can delay paying taxes until the profits are “repatriated” to the U.S. The administration has frequently cited this number as a reason our tax code needs “reform,” and, on that point, there is broad agreement. Our tax system undoubtedly needs reform, though, their solution—to simply not tax offshore profits—misses the point.
ITEP/PIRG Report Reveals at Least 366 Corporations — 73 Percent — in the Fortune 500 Operate One or More Subsidiaries in Tax Haven Countries
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new study released Tuesday highlights the widespread use of offshore tax haven loopholes by large multinational companies.
History Shows Tax Giveaways on Offshore Profits Neither Create Jobs nor Spur Investment
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The president is expected to claim in a speech Wednesday afternoon that a zero percent tax rate for multinational corporations that book profits offshore and a tax holiday for those multinationals that have already booked stockpiles of money offshore will increase the pay of the average American household by $4,000 — an erroneous notion according to the FACT Coalition.
