Alliance of Good-Governance Groups Submits Comments in Support of Rules Combating Earnings-Stripping
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In comments submitted to the U.S. Department of the Treasury on Monday, good government watchdogs called on the administration to protect a recent safeguard aimed at combating offshore tax avoidance.
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.
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.
For the second time, Wells Fargo was found liable for a tax penalty in connection with an abusive tax shelter. This points to a broader trend where companies’ abusive tax schemes are being exposed to increasing public discontent. In the case of Wells Fargo, a jury in Minnesota had previously nixed $350 million in foreign tax credits finding that they “lacked both economic substance and a non-tax business purpose.” Now, a federal court has found them liable for a 20% negligence penalty from the IRS. The court’s decision is yet another example that the tax gimmicks employed by multinationals to inflate profits are becoming riskier.
In a blog, FACT’s Jacob Wills explained the current climate around tax fairness, “Scandals have shaken public confidence in the integrity and fairness of the tax system at a time when tightening budgets and increasing deficits are leading to calls for austerity and scaling back on long relied upon public services.”
It should be no surprise that tax avoidance schemes face increased scrutiny, a recent report suggests that the ultra-wealthy are dodging more in tax than many had previously estimated. Economists Annette Alstadsæter, Niels Johannesen, and Gabriel Zucman took data from two tax haven leaks — the Panama Papers and Swiss leaks — in order to get more accurate estimates of tax evasion. Their findings: the ultra-rich — on average — evade about 30% of their due taxes, compared to the average evasion rate of 2.9%.
Tell me if you’ve heard this before: Nations from around the world gathered in Paris to sign a multilateral agreement that had been negotiated over several years with the U.S. as a leading partner. In the end, the U.S. was conspicuously absent from the ceremony and did not sign onto the final agreement.
I, of course, am referring to an effort to combat aggressive corporate tax avoidance and address the wealth-draining concerns over the growth of tax havens. See FACT’s statement on the event. The agreement was a part of the multilateral initiative on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) negotiated through the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Over seventy countries moved forward with an agreement to combat tax avoidance by amending bilateral tax treaties.
“U.S. Administration Chose to Double Down on Its Abdication of American Leadership.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Just one week after pulling out of the Paris Agreement to combat climate change, the U.S. administration has chosen to back away from yet another international convention — this one to combat abusive tax avoidance. Coincidentally, the tax agreement was also negotiated and signed in Paris — at the headquarters of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
