By: Chris Besse
Yesterday, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced the Corporate Tax Fairness Act and Representative Jan Schakowsky introduced its companion measure in the House. This Act would yield more than $590 billion in revenue for the US over the next decade by closing corporate tax loopholes that allow corporations to shift profits oversees and avoid paying taxes in the US. With the US at a debt of $16.5 trillion, the swift passage of this legislation is urgently needed.[i] Not only is this legislation a good thing for the US, it is also good globally as it would send a “strong message that this kind of corporate behavior worldwide is unacceptable. This is behavior that makes dodgy business practices the status quo and perpetuates the cycle of poverty around the globe,” noted Eric LeCompte, Jubilee USA’s Executive Director.[ii]
About 83 out of 100 of the top American corporations such as Google, Apple and Microsoft use tax havens in order to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.[iii] This tax avoidance is the equivalent of an estimated $1.7 trillion of foreign profits sitting offshore.[iv] Corporations avoid paying taxes by simply placing a P.O. Box in foreign countries even if their operations are not there. This allows corporations to pay lower taxes that are set by foreign countries. An example of these tax havens is the Ugland House in the Cayman Islands, a meager five story building that houses nearly 19,000 corporations.[v] Sanders used a picture of the Ugland House as a background for his conference.
When corporations dodge taxes, ordinary taxpayers lose - with higher debt, higher taxes and cuts to essential public programs. This powerful legislation is one giant step to closing tax loopholes that perpetuate the cycle of poverty worldwide.
For more information, read our press statement.
[i] “Sanders, Schakowsky Purpose Tax Fairness Act”. http://www.sanders.senate.gov/
[ii] “End Offshore Tax Havens”. http://www.sanders.senate.gov/
[iii] “Meet the Top Wall Street and Corporate Tax Dodgers”. http://www.sanders.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Tax-Dodge-Report-3.pdf
[iv] “Fact Sheet on the Sander/Schakowsky Corporate Tax Fairness Act. http://www.sanders.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/CORPTA%20FAIRNESSFACTSHEET.pdf
[v] Keating, Joshua, “House of 19,000 Corporations”, Foreign Policy, January 24, 2012. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/24/house_of_19000_corporations