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Close Corporate Tax Loopholes

PERVASIVE TAX AVOIDANCE — Across the country, some of the nation’s best-known companies—including GE, Google and Goldman Sachs—have avoided paying the taxes they owe, costing taxpayers $100 billion last year.

LOOPHOLES COST TAXPAYERS $100 BILLION LAST YEAR

No company should be able to game the tax system to avoid paying what it legitimately owes. And, yet, establishing shell companies in offshore havens for the purpose of tax avoidance is becoming more the rule than the exception for at least 83 of the nation's top 100 publicly traded companies. GE, Google, Goldman Sachs and dozens of others have created hundreds of phantom entities with nothing more than a clever tax attorney and P.O. box.

Official estimates of how much we lose in tax revenue are between $70 billion and $100 billion per year. That's money that is shouldered by average taxpayers, either through additional taxes today or additional debt to be paid by the next generation. It’s not illegal, but it’s not right. The result? The average taxpayer paid $434 more this year to cover the $100 billion that GE and others that use offshore tax havens skipped out on. And small businesses and companies that don’t use these schemes have to struggle to compete with those that do. 

Meanwhile, the state Legislature and Congress are considering deep cuts for essential public programs — from education, to health care, to clean air and drinking water. They’re asking us to tighten our belts and make sacrifices, while giving the tax haven crew a free ride. We are pushing for common-sense changes that simply say that if corporations are based here and generate profits here, then they should, like all of us who earn income here, pay the taxes they owe.

Issue updates

News Release | Georgia PIRG | Tax

Offshore Tax Havens Cost Average Georgia Taxpayer $712 a Year, Georgia Small Business $1,963

ATLANTA, April 4 – With Tax Day approaching, it’s a good time to be reminded of where our tax dollars are going. Georgia PIRG released a new study today which revealed that the average Georgia taxpayer in 2012 would have to shoulder an extra $712 in taxes to make up for the revenue lost due to the use of offshore tax havens by corporations and wealthy individuals.

> Keep Reading
Report | Georgia PIRG | Tax

Picking Up the Tab 2013

Some U.S.-based multinational firms and individuals avoid paying U.S. taxes by using accounting tricks to shift profits made in America to offshore tax havens—countries with minimal or no taxes. They benefit from their access to America’s markets, workforce, infrastructure and security; but they pay little or nothing for it—violating the basic fairness of the tax system and forcing other taxpayers to pick up the tab.

> Keep Reading
Media Hit | Tax

Tax havens and tax refund fraud

States with budget shortfalls are struggling to account for the revenue gaps. One way to boost their economic health would be for states and the federal government to close corporate tax loopholes, writes an official for a nonprofit consumer group. A certified public accountant suggests changes in the U.S. tax code would raise revenue but might also cause substantial job losses. A third writer talks about stopping tax refund fraud.

 

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Tax

Tis the season! For taxes, that is. | Laura Murray

 

My W-2 just came in the mail, my bank is sending me reminders to download my 1099, and my TV is full of kindly tax service professionals who assure me that they’re there to help. This weekend I’ll sit down at the kitchen table with a pile of forms and a checkbook, and I’ll pay my taxes. It’s not glamorous, but it’s something we all do.

Well, almost all of us.

> Keep Reading
Media Hit | Tax

Georgia PIRG: Tax offshoring costs Georgia $569 million

A Georgia consumer group claims the state lost $569 million in corporate income taxes in 2011 from companies using offshore tax havens.

In a study released Tuesday, Georgia Public Interest Research Group Education Fund said “states automatically lose billions of dollars in revenue each year simply because their tax codes are closely linked to federal tax codes. When multinational firms shift the reporting of profits offshore on their federal taxes, those profits go un- reported for state tax purposes too.”

> Keep Reading

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News Release | Georgia PIRG | Tax

Offshore Tax Havens Cost Average Georgia Taxpayer $712 a Year, Georgia Small Business $1,963

ATLANTA, April 4 – With Tax Day approaching, it’s a good time to be reminded of where our tax dollars are going. Georgia PIRG released a new study today which revealed that the average Georgia taxpayer in 2012 would have to shoulder an extra $712 in taxes to make up for the revenue lost due to the use of offshore tax havens by corporations and wealthy individuals.

> Keep Reading
Media Hit | Tax

Tax havens and tax refund fraud

States with budget shortfalls are struggling to account for the revenue gaps. One way to boost their economic health would be for states and the federal government to close corporate tax loopholes, writes an official for a nonprofit consumer group. A certified public accountant suggests changes in the U.S. tax code would raise revenue but might also cause substantial job losses. A third writer talks about stopping tax refund fraud.

 

> Keep Reading
Media Hit | Tax

Georgia PIRG: Tax offshoring costs Georgia $569 million

A Georgia consumer group claims the state lost $569 million in corporate income taxes in 2011 from companies using offshore tax havens.

In a study released Tuesday, Georgia Public Interest Research Group Education Fund said “states automatically lose billions of dollars in revenue each year simply because their tax codes are closely linked to federal tax codes. When multinational firms shift the reporting of profits offshore on their federal taxes, those profits go un- reported for state tax purposes too.”

> Keep Reading
News Release | Georgia PIRG Education Fund | Tax

Offshore Tax Dodging Blows a $918 Million Hole in Georgia Budget

ATLANTA, February 5th – With Georgia in the midst of a continued budget crunch, the Georgia PIRG Education Fund, joined by Alan Essig of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, released a new study revealing that Georgia lost $918 million due to offshore tax dodging last year. Many of America’s wealthiest individuals and largest corporations, use tax loopholes to shift profits made in America to offshore tax havens, where they pay little to no taxes.

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News Release | Georgia PIRG Education Fund | Budget, Tax

Report Exposes How Taxpayers Bear Cost of Corporate Settlements

A new report spotlights a common practice where corporations that commit wrongdoing and agree to financial settlements with the federal government go on to claim such settlement payments as tax-deductible business expenses.

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Report | Georgia PIRG | Tax

Picking Up the Tab 2013

Some U.S.-based multinational firms and individuals avoid paying U.S. taxes by using accounting tricks to shift profits made in America to offshore tax havens—countries with minimal or no taxes. They benefit from their access to America’s markets, workforce, infrastructure and security; but they pay little or nothing for it—violating the basic fairness of the tax system and forcing other taxpayers to pick up the tab.

> Keep Reading
Report | Georgia PIRG Education Fund | Tax

The Hidden Cost of Offshore Tax Havens

When U.S. corporations and wealthy individuals use offshore tax havens to avoid paying taxes to the federal government, it is an abuse of our tax system. Tax haven abusers benefit from our markets, infrastructure, educated workforce, and security, but they pay next to nothing for these benefits. Ultimately, taxpayers must pick up the tab, either in the form of higher taxes, cuts to public spending priorities, or increased national debt.

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Report | Georgia PIRG Education Fund | Budget, Tax

Subsidizing Bad Behavior

How Corporate Legal Settlements for Harming the Public Become Lucrative Tax Write Offs, with Recommendations for Reform

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Report | Georgia PIRG Education Fund | Tax

What America Could Do with $150 Billion Lost to Offshore Tax Havens

Many corporations and wealthy individuals use offshore tax havens—countries with minimal or no taxes—to avoid paying $150 billion in U.S. taxes each year. At a time of difficult budget choices, we put this sum in perspective.

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Report | Georgia PIRG | Tax

Picking Up the Tab

With tax day approaching, a new study released by Georgia PIRG found that the average Georgia taxpayer in 2011 would have to shoulder an extra $351 tax burden to make up for revenue lost from corporations and wealthy individuals shifting income to offshore tax havens. The report additionally found that to cover the cost of the corporate abuse of tax havens in 2011, small businesses in Georgia would have to foot a bill of over $1,520 on average. 

> Keep Reading

Pages

Blog Post | Tax

Tis the season! For taxes, that is. | Laura Murray

 

My W-2 just came in the mail, my bank is sending me reminders to download my 1099, and my TV is full of kindly tax service professionals who assure me that they’re there to help. This weekend I’ll sit down at the kitchen table with a pile of forms and a checkbook, and I’ll pay my taxes. It’s not glamorous, but it’s something we all do.

Well, almost all of us.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Tax

Easy deficit target: corporate tax breaks | Laura Murray

 

The "fiscal cliff" is perhaps the biggest political issue of the moment.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Tax

In the Public Interest: The "Dirty Thirty" Corporations that Spend More on Lobbying than Taxes

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Budget

Unlikely Allies Show Super Committee Good Cuts to Avoid Bad Cuts | Jessica Wilson

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Tax

The Twinkie Tax | Jessica Wilson

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Some of the nation’s best-known companies — including GE, Google and Goldman Sachs — have avoided paying the taxes they owe, costing us $100 billion last year.

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