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Chamber Of Commerce Calls For Corporate Tax Reform That Would Make It Easier To Offshore Profits
The United States Chamber of Commerce released an outline of its proposals for corporate tax reform, and chief among its wishes is a so-called “territorial” tax system that would exempt most foreign profits earned by American multinational corporations from taxation in the U.S.
Despite claims from business groups, studies show that a territorial system would simply make it easier to store profits in offshore tax havens and avoid American taxation, an incentive corporations don’t need. The largest corporations are already holding nearly $1.5 trillion in offshore tax havens like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and Ireland, even though they do very little business in those countries. Those tax avoidance schemes cost individual taxpayers and small businesses hundreds of dollars each annually and have also helped crimp state budgets.
One study estimates that the increased offshoring that would result from a territorial system would result in the creation of 800,000 jobs in other countries, potentially displacing investment and job creation in the U.S.
Corporations’ argument for such a system stems from their claims that they are paying the highest corporate tax rate in the world. But while the U.S. does indeed have the highest marginal corporate tax rate, the effective corporate tax rate dropped to a 40-year low in 2011 even as profits rose to a 60-year high. Only Iceland, in fact, collects less in corporate taxes as a share of the economy among industrialized nations.
Despite claims from business groups, studies show that a territorial system would simply make it easier to store profits in offshore tax havens and avoid American taxation, an incentive corporations don’t need. The largest corporations are already holding nearly $1.5 trillion in offshore tax havens like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and Ireland, even though they do very little business in those countries. Those tax avoidance schemes cost individual taxpayers and small businesses hundreds of dollars each annually and have also helped crimp state budgets.
One study estimates that the increased offshoring that would result from a territorial system would result in the creation of 800,000 jobs in other countries, potentially displacing investment and job creation in the U.S.
Corporations’ argument for such a system stems from their claims that they are paying the highest corporate tax rate in the world. But while the U.S. does indeed have the highest marginal corporate tax rate, the effective corporate tax rate dropped to a 40-year low in 2011 even as profits rose to a 60-year high. Only Iceland, in fact, collects less in corporate taxes as a share of the economy among industrialized nations.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/04/02/1814291/chamber-of-commerce-calls-for-corporate-tax-reform-that-would-make-it-easier-to-offshore-profits/
