We need more Senators like Senator Bernie Sanders willing to speak the Truth about Corporate Greed and Failed Republican Tax Policy that allows such abuse!
Thank you, Vermont!
A Choice For Corporate America: Are You With America Or The Cayman Islands
By
Senator Bernie Sanders
February 9, 2013
When the greed,
recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street drove this country into the
deepest recession since the 1930s, the largest financial institutions in the
United States took every advantage of being American. They just loved their
country - and the willingness of the American people to provide them with the
largest bailout in world history. In 2008, Congress approved a $700 billion gift
to Wall Street. Another $16 trillion in virtually zero interest loans and other
financial assistance came from the Federal Reserve. America. What a great
country.
But just two years later, as soon as these giant financial
institutions started making record-breaking profits again, they suddenly lost
their love for their native country. At a time when the nation was suffering
from a huge deficit, largely created by the recession that Wall Street caused,
the major financial institutions did everything they could to avoid paying
American taxes by establishing shell corporations in the Cayman Islands and
other tax havens.
In 2010, Bank of America set up more than 200
subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands (which has a corporate tax rate of 0.0
percent) to avoid paying U.S. taxes. It worked. Not only did Bank of America pay
nothing in federal income taxes, but it received a rebate from the IRS worth
$1.9 billion that year. They are not alone. In 2010, JP Morgan Chase operated 83
subsidiaries incorporated in offshore tax havens to avoid paying some $4.9
billion in U.S. taxes. That same year Goldman Sachs operated 39 subsidiaries in
offshore tax havens to avoid an estimated $3.3 billion in U.S. taxes. Citigroup
has paid no federal income taxes for the last four years after receiving a total
of $2.5 trillion in financial assistance from the Federal Reserve during the
financial crisis.
On and on it goes. Wall Street banks and large
companies love America when they need corporate welfare. But when it comes to
paying American taxes or American wages, they want nothing to do with this
country. That has got to change.
Offshore tax abuse is not just limited
to Wall Street. Each and every year corporations and the wealthy are avoiding
more than $100 billion in U.S. taxes by sheltering their income
offshore.
Pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly and Pfizer have fought
to make it illegal for the American people to buy cheaper prescription drugs
from Canada and Europe. But, during tax season, Eli Lilly and Pfizer shift drug
patents and profits to the Netherlands and other offshore tax havens to avoid
paying U.S. taxes.
Apple wants all of the advantages of being an
American company, but it doesn't want to pay American taxes or American wages.
It creates the iPad, the iPhone, the iPod, and iTunes in the United States, but
manufactures most of its products in China so it doesn't have to pay American
wages. Then it shifts most of its profits to Ireland, Luxembourg, the British
Virgin Islands and other tax havens to avoid paying U.S. taxes. Without such
maneuvers, Apple's federal tax bill in the United States would have been $2.4
billion higher in 2011.
Offshore tax schemes have become so absurd that
one five-story office building in the Cayman Islands is now the "home" to more
than 18,000 corporations.
This tax avoidance does not just reduce the
revenue that we need to pay for education, healthcare, roads, and environmental
protection, it is also costing us millions of American jobs. Today, companies
are using these same tax schemes to lower their tax bills by shipping American
jobs and factories abroad. These tax breaks have contributed to the loss of more
than 5 million U.S. manufacturing jobs and the closure of more than 56,000
factories since 2000. That also has got to change.
At a time when we have
a $16.5 trillion national debt; at a time when roughly one-quarter of the
largest corporations in America are paying no federal income taxes; and at a
time when corporate profits are at an all-time high; it is past time for Wall
Street and corporate America to pay their fair share.
That's what the
Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act (S.250) that I have introduced with Rep.
Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) is all about.
This legislation will stop
profitable Wall Street banks and corporations from sheltering profits in the
Cayman Islands and other tax havens to avoid paying U.S. taxes. It will also
stop rewarding companies that ship jobs and factories overseas with tax breaks.
The Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated in the past that the provisions in
this bill will raise more than $590 billion in revenue over the next
decade.
As Congress debates deficit reduction, it is clear that we must
raise significant new revenue. At 15.8 percent of GDP, federal revenue is at
almost the lowest point in 60 years. Our Republican colleagues want to balance
the budget on the backs of the elderly, the sick, the children, the veterans and
the most vulnerable by making massive cuts. At a time when the middle class
already is disappearing, that is not only a grossly immoral position, it is bad
economics.
We have a much better idea. Wall Street and the largest
corporations in the country must begin to pay their fair share of taxes. They
must not be able to continue hiding their profits offshore and shipping American
jobs overseas to avoid taxes.
Here's the simple truth. You can't be an
American company only when you want a massive bailout from the American people.
You have also got to be an American company, and pay your fair share of taxes,
as we struggle with the deficit and adequate funding for the needs of the
American people. If Wall Street and corporate America don't agree, the next time
they need a bailout let them go to the Cayman Islands, let them go to Bermuda,
let them go to the Bahamas and let them ask those countries for corporate
welfare.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/a-choice-for-corporate-am_b_2652176.html
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
A Choice For Corporate America: Are You With America Or The Cayman Islands
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