Should Congress focus on ending offshore tax ‘loopholes’ for corporations?
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“As Congress scrambles to agree on ways to reduce the deficit, Iowans across the political spectrum must at agree on a clear first step to avoid the “fiscal cliff”: closing offshore tax loopholes,” Gazette guest columnist Sonia Ashe wrote in a column published Saturday.
“Many of America’s largest corporations and wealthiest individuals use accounting gimmicks to shift profits made in America to offshore tax havens, where they pay little to no taxes,” says Ashe, an advocate with the Iowa Public Interest Research Group, a statewide non-profit, non-partisan consumer advocacy organization. ”This tax avoidance costs the federal government $150 billion in tax revenue each year. That’s not chump change.
“With just a single year’s worth of the revenue lost to offshore tax havens, we could give 10 million students Pell Grants for all four years of college; we could bring transportation into the 21st century by funding construction of 15 commuter rail lines, 50 light rail transit lines, and more than 800 bus rapid transit lines; or we could give more than $1,000 to every American who files taxes.”
Read the column linked above for more background. Do you think Congress should close tax-law loopholes that allow offshore tax havens for big business and individuals?
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NO, NO, NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The first step to managing the federal debt crisis is to admit that spending is the problem. These tax solutions can only cover a small percentage of the annual deficit. Considering them first shows that you have the mentality of an addict.
I concur with addressing the issue of tax loop-holes as a means to ensure fairness and balance in the tax code BUT some other parameters are equally important:
1 – If we raise tax rates we become more an more uncompetitive in the world market because we already have the highest marginal tax rates.
2 – 50% of the American people do not pay federal income tax. They have no skin in the game. That is totally unfair and creates an incentive for dependency.
3 – Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare are the primary drivers of the federal deficit. No increase in tax revenue can fix that spending problem. If these programs are not reformed the US will become Greece and sink to a point where the economy will collapse.
Its time to remove the addicts from the playing field and for adults to step up and return our fiscal situation to reality. That is the only way to restore prosperity.
Another example of the Gazette distorting the facts is a piece from the McClatchy Newspapers on the “Improving” job numbers. Check the government website BLS you would find the truth for November 2012.
146,000 increase in employment
542,000 decrease in people looking for jobs
That means more than 3 times the number of people who got jobs stopped looking for one!!! Can anyone explain how that is an improvement???
I understand why President Obama is willing to lie about the figures but I do not understand why the media doesn’t know better. The job participation rate declined by .2% in November showing a weakening economy with job growth rates below what is needed to reach full employment anytime soon.
This demonstrates the wisdom of, “Liars figure and figures lie”.
Ellis,
Your guy lost the election. You can post in all caps all you want. It doesn’t matter. Nobody’s listening
In fact, you need to at least consider that neither Obama nor the media is lying about anything. That maybe the person living in a bubble of disinformation is you
This is one of those simplest and idealistic ideas that would be incredibly difficult to implement. Sure, I would like to see loopholes eliminated. The hard part is determining what is a loophole. I’m not an expert, but I have had some exposure to “tax strategies”. Many people and corporations have the very best attorneys and accountants working to keep them one step ahead of the IRS.
Rich,
I don’t think it matters that making it harder for rich people to avoid paying taxes would be difficult or that these people have lawyers and accountants working overtime.
I think what matters is making it as expensive and as difficult as possible for these people to keep playing that game.
First I would challenge the idea that we should lower our standard of living to compete with the world. Governments are created to protect the people and not to let some other country or domestic person to steal from or impoverish the whole people.
Second we should learn how to manage our own economy before we fool around in the world economy. We have the means to collect taxes all we need now is the will.
Notice the intent of the article. Listing all of the NEW spending that could be ADDED to the existing spending that is already in excess of revenue by more than $1 trilion.
That is exactly why we have a spending problem, not a revenue problem. Increase revenue is guaranteed increaseed spending, and when that is all spent the govt well be back for even higher revenues. This is not just my opinion, but fact as proven by this article.
But to the nuts and bolts of the article. Exactly what ‘loop holes’ should we close? Be specific. This is one of those talking points that 1/2 the voters take as truthful, but upon close examination, there is barely any substance to the allegation. Like subsidies to big oil that dont exist, are there any true loopholes? Or just normal business expenses?
During the debate Obama got called out on the subsidies given business that move jobs out of the US. Romney correctly explained that the charge is simply without fact. In the weeks since that debate no one has proven Romeny wrong.
Se lets get the fact, straight, then have the discussion.
In answer to your assertion, Mr Williamson,
“Does Tax Code send US jobs offshore”
David Lynch USA Today 3/21/2008
“The charge could be dismissed as typical campaign-trail exaggeration during a Democratic primary season marked by populism, except for one thing. Many analysts say it’s true. “The U.S. tax system does provide an incentive to locate production offshore,” says Martin Sullivan, a contributing editor to Tax Notes, a non-profit publication that tracks tax issues”
I’m assuming that you won’t dismiss USA Today as left wing propagand, but I could be wrong
Roberta you understand nothing of business. The article is talking about profits generated by companies doing business in foreign nations, and the tax law that states they pay tax on those profits when they bring them back to the US
First you have to understand that today is a world economy. If world class companies want to do business the MUST do business on foreign soil. Why do you suppose Honda builds cars in the US?)
So as usual you by into the taking point, without understanding that the “Loop hole” is not a loophole, but normal tax code. You explain how that is and incentive to do business off shore. As I explained most companies have foreign divisions as a necessary requirement, the tax code prevents businesses from bringing those monies back into the US Companies like Apple have $billions they want to bring back into the US but wont until more favorable tax structures are formulated. Those $billions could be put to work in the US, but the govt would rather screw them over than help the US economy.
In the mean time, despite the claimed tax “loop holes” companies like GE and Apple are bringing back manufacturing to the US. IF, IF those loop holes existed (Still havent had a single one identified) you are forced to assume these companies are ignoring their fiduciary responsibilities.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2012/12/07/why-apple-and-ge-are-bringing-manufacturing-back/
No i do not find a newspaper article from 2008 to have any pertinent information for a debate about todays issues.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/business/04bptax.html?pagewanted=all
check out this link for oil companies tax breaks and subsidies.