Senate Proposal for Infrastructure Bank Benefits Tax Dodgers

Sen.s Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) announced their intention to file legislation to establish an infrastructure bank funded by multinational corporations, which would receive significant tax forgiveness on their offshore profits in exchange for capitalizing the bank. The bill is the Senate companion of the Partnership to Build America Act (H.R.

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Spending Bill for the Rest of Fiscal Year 2014 Moves Forward

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have released the fiscal year 2014 omnibus appropriations bill that combines all 12 regular appropriations bills into one package to reduce the number of votes lawmakers need to take to set funding levels across the federal government. A stopgap spending bill will move to avoid a government shutdown before the omnibus itself is up for a vote. This omnibus would be the first bill in years where Congress has deliberately tweaked and set spending levels – spending for the last few years has generally been on autopilot with “continuing resolutions” simply extending prior fiscal year funding levels.

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Extended Unemployment Benefits Expired Despite Unprecedented Labor Market

Congress will consider extending unemployment compensation this week for the 1.3 million Americans, who lost unemployment insurance when the extended benefits program expired in late December.

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Final Volcker Rule Released

The long-expected Volcker Rule, an element of Wall Street reform efforts, was released on December 10.

The rule looks to prevent banks from taking risks with money insured by the government, discouraging risk taking on the American taxpayer’s bill.

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Murray-Ryan Budget Deal Announced

Yesterday evening, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced a budget proposal to replace a portion of sequestration cuts. The plan would allow the continuation of cuts to Medicare, increase user fees, and make it more expensive for government employees to save for retirement.

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Baucus Proposal: Corporate Rate Reductions, No Sequester Relief

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) released a series of discussion drafts proposing elements of tax reform this week, including recommendations for international tax reform.

Baucus clearly states that tax reform overall should be revenue positive for deficit reduction, but the proposal for international taxation is revenue neutral in the long-run—leaving open the possibility of revenue positive reform of the individual tax system.

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Delaware Flaunts “Shell Company” Policy with New Website

The state of Delaware has launched a new website (corplaw.delaware.gov) to promote Delaware’s business-friendly incorporation laws abroad.

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Report Shows Government Programs Reducing Poverty

On Sept. 6, the Census Bureau released its updated measure of the national supplementary poverty rate, revealing the poverty rate remains at 16 percent.

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Protesters Order GOP Obstructionists to “Cease and Desist”

Last week, the government reopened and a default on the national debt was averted at the last minute, but not before Americans frustrated by extremist politics and budget brinksmanship turned out to hundreds of protests across the country.

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Ireland Closes “Ghost Companies” Loophole

On Tuesday, the Irish government announced plans to close a major tax loophole that had allowed Apple to avoid paying $40 billion in taxes.

The Irish tax loophole allowed firms to shelter profits by using “ghost companies.” These so-called “ghost companies” do not declare residency in any country, thereby avoiding paying taxes to any nation.

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