Protesters called on Verizon to stop dodging their tax payments in New York outside the company's financial district offices on Aug. 20, 2013. Police made four arrests during the protest. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
It’s no secret that large corporations are using loopholes to avoid taxes and the federal government is missing out on revenue that could help fund programs on the chopping block in upcoming budget negotiations. Between 2008 and 2012, more than two dozen corporations — Facebook, GE and Verizon among them — managed to avoid paying any income tax at all.
But in a recent report, the advocacy group Americans for Tax Fairness writes, “it doesn’t have to be this way.” Two bills have been introduced in Congress that could close some of these loopholes and compel companies to pay their fair share.
Senator Carl Levin’s (D-MI) Cut Unjustified Tax Loopholes Act would close offshore loopholes by creating rules that would classify foreign subsidies controlled by US corporations as taxable. And the Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act, introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), would also prevent companies from dodging taxes on offshore profits, and end tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas. Both bills have made little progress since introduced.
