Earlier this year, Amazon and Netflix made headlines when ITEP reported findings that these and at least 58 other companies paid no federal income taxes in 2018. One of the tax breaks they use to manage this feat is related to stock options, the subject of a new ITEP report.
In recent days, presidential candidates Sen. Kamala Harris and New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio have called for taxing corporate profits the same whether they are earned in the United States or abroad. These calls echo the position of Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has long had a proposal along these lines. As ITEP has explained, correcting this inequity is not a mere detail but rather a sweeping reform that could end incentives for companies to shift profits and jobs offshore.
A group of investors representing more than $1 trillion assets under management signed a letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board, urging FASB to reconsider the Exposure Draft and support country-by-country reporting.
On May 7th and 8th, 2019, AFSCME, the Emerging Markets Investors Alliance, the FACT Coalition, Oxfam, and the Transparency & Accountability Initiative hosted a webinar on the harms of inadequate disclosures of corporate tax practices. Moderated by Gary Kalman, Executive Director of FACT Coalition, the webinar featured an expert panel that included, Ty Gellasch, founder of Myrtle Makena and former Senior Counsel to the Senate Permanent Sub-Committee on Investigations, Nicholas Lusiani, Senior Advisor at Oxfam America, Robert M. Wilson, Jr., investment officer and research analyst at MFS Investment Management, and Richard Phillips, former senior policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Supporters of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act might have hoped for a more celebratory first year anniversary. The public has not seen the kinds of benefits promised — few have seen anything close to $4000 raises, and real wage growth, accounting for inflation, continues to be sluggish. And despite surging corporate profits, the stock market took a tumble as other factors weigh heavy on the minds of investors. Even the board room celebrations are muted at best.
