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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Mark McCullough, (202) 730-7283

"It's Time Everyone Pays Their Fair Share to Rebuild Our Economy"

"SEIU
members wake up and work hard to put food on the table and strengthen
their community while getting through a healthcare crisis, a housing
crisis, a higher education crisis and the list goes on and on. At the
same time, American businesses reap the benefits of millions spent on
Washington lobbying with tax codes that allow them to shirk their
responsibility to pay taxes and actually pay them to create jobs
overseas instead of here in America," said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer
Anna Burger.

WASHINGTON

"SEIU
members wake up and work hard to put food on the table and strengthen
their community while getting through a healthcare crisis, a housing
crisis, a higher education crisis and the list goes on and on. At the
same time, American businesses reap the benefits of millions spent on
Washington lobbying with tax codes that allow them to shirk their
responsibility to pay taxes and actually pay them to create jobs
overseas instead of here in America," said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer
Anna Burger.

"We
are tired of businesses like Bank of America, AIG and Citigroup hiding
billions in profits while collecting billions in bailouts. When a
single building in the Cayman Islands is home to more than 18,000
offshore corporations, something has to stop. These are not our values;
this is not the America we believe in. It's time everyone pays their
fair share to rebuild our economy."

Today,
the U.S. Treasury Department released the 'Green Book' providing
details on President Obama's budget proposals. The changes, outlined
last week by the President, will close tax loopholes, change deferral
rules and crack down on global financial institutions that may be
hiding taxable U.S. income. These

1) Replacing Tax Advantages for Creating Jobs Overseas With Incentives to Create Them at Home

  • The
    Obama Administration would remove tax advantages for investing overseas
    and would use the revenue to make permanent a tax credit for investment
    in research and innovation within the United States.

2) Closing Foreign Tax Credit Loopholes

  • The
    Administration would close loopholes that allow U.S. businesses that
    pay foreign taxes on overseas profits to claim a credit against their
    U.S. taxes for the foreign taxes paid.

3) Getting Tough on Overseas Tax Havens and Cracking Down on the Abuse of Tax Havens

  • President
    Obama aims to crack down on a range of tax-avoidance techniques by
    requiring U.S. businesses that establish certain corporations overseas
    to report them as corporations on their U.S. tax returns. U.S. firms
    that invest overseas would no longer be able to make their subsidiaries
    or the income they shift to them disappear for tax purposes. This would level the playing field between firms that invest overseas and those that invest at home.

With 2 million members in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in the Americas. Focused on uniting workers in healthcare, public services and property services, SEIU members are winning better wages, healthcare and more secure jobs for our communities, while uniting their strength with their counterparts around the world to help ensure that workers--not just corporations and CEOs--benefit from today's global economy.