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Corporate Tax Holiday Would Cheat American Taxpayers
The deceivingly named Win America campaign would actually push the nation further into debt.
May 23, 2011
What if your family's finances were tight, and you had a water bill that you couldn't afford to pay? What if you had a client who owed you enough to cover the water bill? Would you tell your family they would have to go without water, or would you tell your client to pay up?
While President Barack Obama and Congress are allowing spending plans that take $500 million out of the mouths of hungry kids and another $415 million from local cops, they continue to ignore the $100 billion we lose every year, thanks to corporate tax cheats.
Those tax cheats, which include the likes of Apple and Cisco, are buying up Washington's best lobbyists to persuade Congress to let them bring back $1 trillion in profits they've stashed overseas, and pay just a 5 percent tax rate instead of the statutory 35 percent rate. The corporations are calling this scam the "Win America Campaign," although this $350 billion giveaway's only winners are the same corporate tax cheats who continue to bleed our economy dry every year.
Corporate tax holidays may mean higher returns for shareholders, but that certainly doesn't create jobs. A similar 2004 tax holiday brought back $312 billion from 843 corporations at a reduced tax rate, only to see those benefits go to shareholders despite legislation aimed at preventing that from happening. Instead, those companies bumped up shareholder payouts between 60 and 92 cents for every dollar brought home. In fact, the Congressional Research Service has found that the largest beneficiaries of the tax holiday actually cut jobs in 2005-2006.
All a tax holiday would do is prove to these corporations that it's profitable for them to continue stashing profits in tropical tax havens. The Win America campaign would actually push us further into debt if we continued to erode our tax base. It would also mean that smaller U.S. businesses that actually play by the rules would see their taxes raised in order to give big corporations more handouts.
Bringing a trillion dollars back to the United States at just a 5 percent tax rate would cost us billions in lost revenue, which could instead be used for green job training programs for the unemployed, hiring more teachers, rebuilding roads and bridges, or health care. The $350 billion we would lose on a corporate tax holiday could instead reverse any of the numerous drastic budget cuts made to local law enforcement, Medicaid, and the like.
If America's leaders are actually considering giving corporate tax cheats yet another tax holiday while cutting funding needed to keep government working for the rest of us, we need to seriously reconsider our priorities. These corporations owe it to the people who make them prosperous to be accountable and pay their fair share of taxes like the rest of us already do.
This latest lobbying effort by corporate tax cheats would only encourage more offshoring of jobs and income. If Congress really wants America to win, then Congress has the responsibility to stop the Win America Campaign in its tracks and make these corporate tax cheats pay their fair share.
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Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
This column was distributed by OtherWords.
Carl Gibson
Carl Gibson is a freelance journalist, columnist, and editor primarily covering political and economic news. His investigative reporting and opinion writing has appeared in CNN, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Barron's, MarketWatch, The Independent, The Houston Chronicle, and NPR, among others.
What if your family's finances were tight, and you had a water bill that you couldn't afford to pay? What if you had a client who owed you enough to cover the water bill? Would you tell your family they would have to go without water, or would you tell your client to pay up?
While President Barack Obama and Congress are allowing spending plans that take $500 million out of the mouths of hungry kids and another $415 million from local cops, they continue to ignore the $100 billion we lose every year, thanks to corporate tax cheats.
Those tax cheats, which include the likes of Apple and Cisco, are buying up Washington's best lobbyists to persuade Congress to let them bring back $1 trillion in profits they've stashed overseas, and pay just a 5 percent tax rate instead of the statutory 35 percent rate. The corporations are calling this scam the "Win America Campaign," although this $350 billion giveaway's only winners are the same corporate tax cheats who continue to bleed our economy dry every year.
Corporate tax holidays may mean higher returns for shareholders, but that certainly doesn't create jobs. A similar 2004 tax holiday brought back $312 billion from 843 corporations at a reduced tax rate, only to see those benefits go to shareholders despite legislation aimed at preventing that from happening. Instead, those companies bumped up shareholder payouts between 60 and 92 cents for every dollar brought home. In fact, the Congressional Research Service has found that the largest beneficiaries of the tax holiday actually cut jobs in 2005-2006.
All a tax holiday would do is prove to these corporations that it's profitable for them to continue stashing profits in tropical tax havens. The Win America campaign would actually push us further into debt if we continued to erode our tax base. It would also mean that smaller U.S. businesses that actually play by the rules would see their taxes raised in order to give big corporations more handouts.
Bringing a trillion dollars back to the United States at just a 5 percent tax rate would cost us billions in lost revenue, which could instead be used for green job training programs for the unemployed, hiring more teachers, rebuilding roads and bridges, or health care. The $350 billion we would lose on a corporate tax holiday could instead reverse any of the numerous drastic budget cuts made to local law enforcement, Medicaid, and the like.
If America's leaders are actually considering giving corporate tax cheats yet another tax holiday while cutting funding needed to keep government working for the rest of us, we need to seriously reconsider our priorities. These corporations owe it to the people who make them prosperous to be accountable and pay their fair share of taxes like the rest of us already do.
This latest lobbying effort by corporate tax cheats would only encourage more offshoring of jobs and income. If Congress really wants America to win, then Congress has the responsibility to stop the Win America Campaign in its tracks and make these corporate tax cheats pay their fair share.
Carl Gibson
Carl Gibson is a freelance journalist, columnist, and editor primarily covering political and economic news. His investigative reporting and opinion writing has appeared in CNN, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Barron's, MarketWatch, The Independent, The Houston Chronicle, and NPR, among others.
What if your family's finances were tight, and you had a water bill that you couldn't afford to pay? What if you had a client who owed you enough to cover the water bill? Would you tell your family they would have to go without water, or would you tell your client to pay up?
While President Barack Obama and Congress are allowing spending plans that take $500 million out of the mouths of hungry kids and another $415 million from local cops, they continue to ignore the $100 billion we lose every year, thanks to corporate tax cheats.
Those tax cheats, which include the likes of Apple and Cisco, are buying up Washington's best lobbyists to persuade Congress to let them bring back $1 trillion in profits they've stashed overseas, and pay just a 5 percent tax rate instead of the statutory 35 percent rate. The corporations are calling this scam the "Win America Campaign," although this $350 billion giveaway's only winners are the same corporate tax cheats who continue to bleed our economy dry every year.
Corporate tax holidays may mean higher returns for shareholders, but that certainly doesn't create jobs. A similar 2004 tax holiday brought back $312 billion from 843 corporations at a reduced tax rate, only to see those benefits go to shareholders despite legislation aimed at preventing that from happening. Instead, those companies bumped up shareholder payouts between 60 and 92 cents for every dollar brought home. In fact, the Congressional Research Service has found that the largest beneficiaries of the tax holiday actually cut jobs in 2005-2006.
All a tax holiday would do is prove to these corporations that it's profitable for them to continue stashing profits in tropical tax havens. The Win America campaign would actually push us further into debt if we continued to erode our tax base. It would also mean that smaller U.S. businesses that actually play by the rules would see their taxes raised in order to give big corporations more handouts.
Bringing a trillion dollars back to the United States at just a 5 percent tax rate would cost us billions in lost revenue, which could instead be used for green job training programs for the unemployed, hiring more teachers, rebuilding roads and bridges, or health care. The $350 billion we would lose on a corporate tax holiday could instead reverse any of the numerous drastic budget cuts made to local law enforcement, Medicaid, and the like.
If America's leaders are actually considering giving corporate tax cheats yet another tax holiday while cutting funding needed to keep government working for the rest of us, we need to seriously reconsider our priorities. These corporations owe it to the people who make them prosperous to be accountable and pay their fair share of taxes like the rest of us already do.
This latest lobbying effort by corporate tax cheats would only encourage more offshoring of jobs and income. If Congress really wants America to win, then Congress has the responsibility to stop the Win America Campaign in its tracks and make these corporate tax cheats pay their fair share.
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