Mike Peterson
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a new piece of legislation that could make multinational corporate taxes much more transparent and shine a "spotlight" on tax avoidance tactics.
In its current form, the Disclosure of Tax Havens and Offshoring Act would require large corporations registered with the SEC to disclose taxes paid and other financial information about their operations and subsidiaries on a country-by-country basis.
According to the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition, the act — if passed — could provide a "spotlight" on corporate profit shifting and tax avoidance strategies.
"We urge the Senate to expedite this important transparency measure after its quick passage in the House. It's far past time for corporate tax avoidance tactics to come out of the shadows," said Erica Hanichak, the FACT Coalition's director of government affairs.
The Disclosure of Tax Havens and Offshoring Act has also been introduced in the Senate, with Sen. Chris Van Hollen leading the charge in that chamber.
Large companies are regularly accused of skirting taxes using various strategies and loopholes. In 2013, the Senate accused Apple of creating offshore subsidiaries to avoid paying billions in U.S. taxes. In 2019, Germany's finance minister said that Apple and other companies are escaping much of their fair tax burden.
Earlier in June, the G7 group of nations agreed to close various tax loopholes that encouraged multinational corporations to move money across borders. The chief change introduced by the G7 is a global minimum corporate tax rate.
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34 Comments
Holy smokes, that's great, and long overdue.
The only thing this shines a spotlight on is that corporate taxes are so high in the US that companies need to put money in other countries.
Apple’s been buying back shares for years. Maybe they just take the company private again? Tell the fed to screw off.
Intelligent "small government" lawmakers have allowed loopholes to exist because other more sinister "big government" lawmakers want to take more than their fair share from everyone via forced taxation. That taxation is on big companies and on individuals who are just scraping by. Taxing less and spending less should be what all lawmakers are working on. But they aren't. They are trying to maintain Big Brother spending and even creating new taxes which will trickle down to all of us. You've got Federal Taxes, State Taxes, Sales Taxes, Local Taxes, Tariffs, Property Taxes, Payroll Taxes, Capital Gains Taxes, Excise Taxes... the list is almost endless. It's laughable to say companies or individuals "aren't paying enough" when in fact we are ALL paying WAY too much. Implementing this tricks to grab even more in taxes means you too will feel the pain through inflation, earlier than you think. That means your paycheck will be less meaningful tomorrow than it is today.