The problem of offshore tax avoidance by American corporations could grow much worse under President Donald Trump’s proposal to adopt a “territorial” tax system, which would exempt the offshore profits of American corporations from U.S. taxes. This change would increase the already substantial benefits American corporations obtain when they use accounting gimmicks to make their profits appear to be earned in a foreign country that has no corporate income tax or has one that is extremely low or easy to avoid.
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report September 6, 2017 Turning Loopholes into Black Holes: Trump’s Territorial Tax Proposal Would Increase Corporate Tax Avoidance
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media mention September 1, 2017 CBS News Moneywatch: Can Trump’s Corporate Tax Cuts Help the Middle Class?
Fortune 500 companies now hold about $2.6 trillion in offshore cash, which leads to billions in lost federal taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. A set… -
media mention September 1, 2017 Fact Check.org: Trump’s Tax Speech
U.S. companies with business overseas do keep some profits in offshore accounts, where it isn’t subject to U.S. corporate taxes until it is repatriated to this country. The profits are declared indefinitely,… -
media mention September 1, 2017 The Columbian: Republicans should stick to facts, not rhetoric, on topic of corporate taxes
House Speaker Paul Ryan’s visit to the Boeing plant in Everett last week contained plenty of ideology, politicking, and lobbying for Republican efforts to reconfigure the U.S. tax code. But… -
media mention August 31, 2017 CNBC: Corporate Tax Reform Could Leave These Companies Paying More
Earlier this year, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan think tank, combed through the financial filings of 258 major U.S. corporations to see how much tax they… -
media mention August 31, 2017 Politico: Trump Wants to Slash America’s Corporate Tax Rate, But That Rate Is a Myth
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy examined 258 Fortune 500 companies that were profitable from 2008 to 2015 and found 100 companies paid zero — or less — in… -
media mention August 31, 2017 Slate: Our Corporate Tax System Is a Mess. Republicans Might Just Make It Worse
Earlier this year, the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released a report in which it analyzed the tax rates paid by members of the Fortune 500 between 2008… -
media mention August 31, 2017 HuffPost: Soda Taxes Create Complicated Rules
The arcane rules for taxing beverages point to a broader taxation challenge: Unless state legislatures and city officials target broad categories, all gasoline sales, for example, their efforts to tax… -
media mention August 31, 2017 Irish Times: Dublin Watches Nervously as Trump Pushes U.S. Tax Reform Agenda
A proposal to encourage companies to repatriate the trillions of dollars that are resting offshore is also up for discussion between the White House and Republicans on Capitol Hill, perhaps… -
blog August 31, 2017 Tax Reform Principles Released by GOP in August Raise More Questions Than They Answer
Before Wednesday, you may have forgotten about tax reform given that President Trump’s remarks on the Charlottesville white supremacist rally, as well as the first U.S. solar eclipse since 1979, and Hurricane Harvey, overshadowed most other news. But Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee, which in theory is the starting place for any tax legislation, certainly tried to get the public to focus on their vision for tax reform. They released a “reason for tax reform” each day in August. Unfortunately, these “reasons” are a combination of ideas that their proposals fail to address and misleading assertions.
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media mention August 31, 2017 Vox: Trumps Says the U.S. Has the Highest Corporate Tax Rate in the World
Big multinational corporations commonly make use of the deferral loophole, which allows them to avoid taxes on profits made abroad. That exception creates incentives for corporations to use accounting gimmicks… -
media mention August 31, 2017 HuffPost: Here Are 4 Populist Tax Reforms Trump Could Adopt If He Really Cared About Working People
In fact, the evidence suggests that Trump’s tax cuts would line corporate CEOs’ pockets, while depleting the Treasury and doing little, if anything, to boost working class Americans’ bottom line.“Trump’s… -
media mention August 31, 2017 The Oklahoman: Tax Holiday Debate Splits Those on the Left
The liberal Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has been among those urging repeal of sales tax holidays. In Georgia, the liberal Georgia Budget and Policy Institute promoted repeal. In… -
media mention August 30, 2017 Fortune: Trump Doesn’t Want Us to See His Real Tax Plan
Following is an excerpt from a op-ed by Alan Essig, executive director of ITEP, published on Fortune. President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress are eager to turn our… -
media mention August 30, 2017 Quartz: Most of Trump’s Tax Cuts Would Go to Taxpayers Making over $599,300 a Year
He didn’t provide any specifics about how these things might happen however. So far, the most detail that’s been offered about Trump’s tax reform plan is a one-page, less-than 250… -
media mention August 30, 2017 HuffPost: Donald Trump Kicks Off Push For Tax Reform In Missouri
The president spoke at an event at Loren Cook Co., which manufactures fans, blowers and lab exhaust systems. The company’s owner donated to Trump and to various Missouri GOP officials during… -
blog August 30, 2017 Sorting Through the Fallacies in Trump’s Missouri Tax Speech
President Donald Trump spoke in Springfield, Missouri today about the need for a tax reform that provides “more jobs and higher wages for America” and “tax relief for middle-class families.” But the proposals the Trump administration has released so far would cut taxes for companies moving investment offshore and would provide most tax cuts to the richest one percent of taxpayers.
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media mention August 30, 2017 The Fiscal Times: Will Trump’s Corporate Tax Reform Really Boost the Economy?
A territorial tax system is still open to abuse: Although there may be benefits to changing the way foreign profits are taxed, there is no guarantee that tax dodging will… -
media mention August 30, 2017 The New York Times: Trump Tax Plan May Free Up Corporate Dollars, but Then What?
But skeptics worry that making the system airtight is impossible. “It’s an endless cat-and-mouse game,” said Matthew Gardner, senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a research… -
media mention August 30, 2017 The Washington Post: Trump Says a Corporate Tax Cut Would Create More Jobs. Economists Aren’t So Sure.
IPS used data from company filings — analyzed by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning research organization — to make a list of publicly held firms that made a profit every year… -
media mention August 30, 2017 The New York Times: It’s a Myth That Corporate Tax Cuts Mean More Jobs
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, AT&T enjoyed an effective tax rate of just 8 percent between 2008 and 2015, despite recording a profit in the United… -
media mention August 30, 2017 The Columbian: A Taxing Debate
The awe actually should be over Ryan’s selective use of facts. As Danny Westneat of The Seattle Times reported: “Not only is Boeing gushing cash, but its own financial documents… -
media mention August 30, 2017 The Chicago Tribune: After the Rush Job to Use Public Money on Private Schools, Now We Wait
Third, the Illinois program specifies that donations to scholarship funds — up to $1,000 a year for an individual — are not eligible for the 75 percent state tax credit… -
media mention August 30, 2017 The Street: Corporate Tax Cuts Promote CEO Pay Raises and Stock Buybacks, Not Jobs
A new study from the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-leaning think tank in Washington, D.C., analyzes data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy to determine what companies… -
news release August 30, 2017 ITEP on President Trump’s Missouri Visit: The Policy Doesn’t Match the Rhetoric
Following is a statement by Alan Essig, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, regarding President Trump’s visit to Springfield, Mo. The president is expected to tout…