Published July 15, 2011 in Business For Shared Prosperity
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., believes that tackling offshore and tax shelter abuse is one way to help reduce the deficit, according to ABC News.
Levin introduced a 61-page bill this week that, if signed into law, would have companies pay
U.S. taxes if operations are managed domestically, regardless of whether they are incorporated in other countries.
“If you are incorporated in the Caymans,” Levin said in a news conference, “you are treated like a Cayman corporation. That’s going to end.
One provision of Levin’s bill would authorize the Treasury secretary to take special measures against foreign institutions and jurisdictions that impede U.S. tax enforcement, according to ABC. That would mean if an offshore bank doesn’t cooperate with U.S. tax officials, then U.S. banks will be told they cannot do business with that offshore bank.
Levin’s bill found favor with small-business leaders, according to the Business for Shared Prosperity (BSP) website.
Frank Knapp, president and CEO of The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, was quoted as saying: “Small businesses across this country, from California to Washington, D.C., understand that while they are paying their taxes, many U.S.-based multinational corporations are not. … Why should we be subsidizing U.S. multinationals that use offshore tax havens to avoid paying taxes?”
“It’s obscene to put everything from the Small Business Administration to Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block while corporate tax dodging deprives us of major revenue,” Scott Klinger, tax policy director of BSP, said. “The Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act will help close the barn door on U.S. corporations moving their profits to offshore tax havens to avoid U.S. taxes.”
“It is simply wrong that a U.S. multinational company is able to report profits to their shareholders and losses to Uncle Sam.”
Original article:Â http://www.businessforsharedprosperity.org/content/hispanic-business-bill-targets-tax-haven-abuse-way-reduce-deficit