“Fix the Debt” Corporate Supporters Would Reap $173 Billion Windfall from Territorial Tax

Fifty-nine corporations behind the “Fix the Debt” campaign could reap $173 billion in immediate tax windfalls if a “territorial tax” is enacted, according to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies.

The Fix the Debt campaign has lobbied extensively for a territorial tax system under the guidance of co-founders Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson. The adoption of a territorial tax system, which would exempt U.S. corporations’ foreign profits from taxation, would ensure that the coalition’s members permanently avoid taxes on more than $544 billion in offshore profits.

Corporations that utilize tax havens to legally avoid payments on offshore profits represent a mere two out of every 1,000 U.S. businesses, but the size of corporations that have offshore subsidiaries, like General Electric, Microsoft, and Merck, mean that the U.S loses billions of dollars in tax revenue each year.

To read the full report or for more information on proposals to close corporate tax loopholes which encourage offshoring, click here.

Source: IPS Report, “Corporate Pirates of the Caribbean: Pro-Austerity CEOs Seek to Widen Tax Haven Loopholes”, June 12, 2013.

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