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The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact: Clark Gascoigne,Phone: (202) 813-0290,Email:,cgascoigne@thefactcoalition.org

New Bill Takes Aim at Offshore Tax Avoidance

FACT Coalition Statement on the Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act

WASHINGTON

Legislation introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) Thursday takes aim at offshore tax avoidance by closing a number of loopholes in the tax code. The Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act was welcomed by the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition (FACT Coalition), a non-partisan alliance of more than 100 state, national, and international organizations working toward a fair tax system that addresses the challenges of a global economy.

The bill was filed following the publication of a thorough analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) -- a member of the FACT Coalition -- revealing widespread tax avoidance by Fortune 500 companies in recent years.

Clark Gascoigne, the deputy director of the FACT Coalition, issued the following statement:

"The Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act offers a pragmatic, enforceable response to the problem of offshore tax avoidance -- a problem that costs U.S. taxpayers an estimated $135 billion per year. This bill ends the incentive to game the tax system without creating a litany of new problems and unintended consequences.

"In contrast, the recent House tax reform blueprint attempts to end the offshore gaming of the tax code but, in practice, it merely changes the nature of the gaming by incentivizing companies to shift the location of sales rather than the location of profits. It is a gift to creative tax planners.

"Instead of engaging in a fairly radical and untested policy exercise to upend the international corporate tax system, a better approach would be to fix and simplify the current one.

"The comparatively simple reforms in this legislation would curb the gaming of the tax code and ensure that wholly domestic and small businesses can compete more fairly with multinationals."

The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition is a non-partisan alliance of more than 100 state, national, and international organizations working toward a fair tax system that addresses the challenges of a global economy and promoting policies to combat the harmful impacts of corrupt financial practices.

(202) 827-6401