Major corporations are contributing to
campaigns, lobbying and spending “whatever it takes” to block
international tax reform that would save American taxpayers hundreds of
millions of dollars.
In its new report Who
Slows the Pace of Tax Reforms?, the Texas Public Interest Research Group profiles corporations which have signed onto one or more letters from
the PACE
coalition which stridently oppose international tax reform. The
report shows how this “dirty dozen” benefits from lucrative federal
contracts, yet do not pay their fair share of taxes and spend heavily to
keep block tax reform.
Highlights include these facts:
• The corporations profiled are twelve of the 100 largest publicly
traded U.S. contractors and they received over $10 billion in
government contracts in 2008 alone.
• The “dirty dozen”
maintain over 440 subsidiaries in tax haven countries or
financial privacy jurisdictions.
• The same dozen corporations
spent a collective $37 million for 2008, over $100,000 a day, and
over $33 million so far for 2009, on lobbying, while also spending over
$6 million (in 2008) in campaign contributions from their
political action committees to candidates and parties.
“The truth
is, corporations know that contributing to campaigns and spending
liberally on lobbying can help reap valuable dividends in policy
decisions. Our flawed system helps to slow the pace of reform on
important issues like closing tax loopholes," said Lisa Gilbert, TexPIRG’s Democracy Advocate and a coauthor on the
report.
Nicole Tichon, TexPIRG’s Tax and Budget Reform Advocate added, “The
reality is when corporations fail to pay their fair share of taxes, that
burden is passed on to ordinary taxpayers. It’s time for the law to
catch up to reality.”
Congress is currently considering
legislation to reform both the international tax system as well as the
way politicians finance their campaigns. The issue of international tax
reform has also surfaced in the House version of the health care bill,
and an amendment to end the use of tax havens may be offered on the
Senate side as a possible way to help finance health care reform.
Click
here to read Who Slows the Pace of Reform? online or to
download a PDF version.
