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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 $150 billion last year.

LOOPHOLES COST $150 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 a P.O. box.

The official estimate of how much Americans lose in tax revenue is $150 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 Colorado taxpayer paid $1,183 more this year to cover the $150 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 Colorado Legislature and Congress are considering deep cuts for essential public programs — from education, to health care, to clean air and food safety. They’re asking us to tighten our belts and make sacrifices, while giving the tax haven crew a free ride. We are pushing for commonsense changes that require corporations that are based here and generate profits here to pay the taxes they owe.

Issue updates

News Release | CoPIRG | Budget, Tax

PRESIDENT OBAMA POSES QUESTION: “WHY PROTECT SPECIAL INTEREST TAX BREAKS?”

Tonight, President Obama rightly called on Congress to close tax loopholes that allow wealthy special interests to shirk their tax burden at the expense of the public. The first loopholes to go should be those that allow corporations and wealthy individuals to use accounting gimmicks to stash their income in offshore tax havens.

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News Release | CoPIRG Foundation | Budget, Tax

Offshore Tax Dodging Blows a $504 Million Hole in Colorado Budget:

With Colorado’s state budget stretched thin, CoPIRG released a new study revealing that Colorado lost $504 million due to offshore tax dodging in 2012. 

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Report | CoPIRG Foundation | Budget, Tax

The Hidden Cost of Offshore Tax Havens

In 2011, Colorado lost approximately $504 million in tax revenues from corporations and wealthy individuals who sheltered money in foreign tax havens. Multinational corporations account for more than $310 million of the lost tax revenue, and wealthy individuals account for the rest.

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Report | CoPIRG Foundation | Budget, Tax

The Hidden Cost of Offshore Tax Havens

In 2011, Colorado lost approximately $504 million in tax revenues from corporations and wealthy individuals who sheltered money in foreign tax havens. Multinational corporations account for more than $310 million of the lost tax revenue, and wealthy individuals account for the rest.

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News Release | CoPIRG | Budget

Denver Receives a Grade of “B” for Spending Transparency

Denver received a grade of “B” for spending transparency, according to a new report released today by CoPIRG. The report reviews Denver’s progress toward comprehensive, one-stop, one-click budget accountability and accessibility.

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News Release | CoPIRG | Budget

Denver Receives a Grade of “B” for Spending Transparency

Denver received a grade of “B” for spending transparency, according to a new report released today by CoPIRG. The report reviews Denver’s progress toward comprehensive, one-stop, one-click budget accountability and accessibility.

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News Release | CoPIRG Foundation | 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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News Release | CoPIRG Foundation | Budget, Tax

First Step to Avoid the Fiscal Cliff: Close Offshore Tax Loopholes

With Congress scrambling to agree on ways to reduce the deficit, U.S. PIRG released a new analysis pointing out a clear first step to avoid the “fiscal cliff”: closing offshore tax loopholes. Many of America’s largest corporations and wealthiest individuals use accounting gimmicks to shift profits made in America to offshore tax havens, where they pay little to no taxes. This tax avoidance costs the federal government an estimated $150 billion in tax revenue each year.  CoPIRG’s new data illustrates the size of this loss with 16 dramatic ways $150 billion could be spent.

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News Release | CoPIRG | Tax

New Report Demonstrates Taxpayer Subsidies for Junk Food

Federal subsidies for commodity crops are subsidizing junk food additives like high fructose corn syrup, enough to pay for 21 Twinkies per taxpayer every year, according to CoPIRG’s new report.

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Report | CoPIRG Foundation | Budget, Tax

SUBSIDIZING BAD BEHAVIOR

BP’s recent $4.5 billion legal settlement with the Justice Department for its misdeeds in the Gulf oil spill was historic for being the largest ever criminal settlement. But it was historic for another reason as well—none of it is allowed to be tax deductible. Unfortunately, too many settlements for wrongdoing end up as tax deductions.

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Report | CoPIRG Foundation | Budget, 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. By shielding their income from U.S. taxes, corporations and wealthy individuals shift the tax burden to ordinary Americans, who must pick up the tab in the form of cuts to public services, more debt, or higher taxes. The $150 billion lost annually to offshore tax havens is a lot of money, especially at a time of difficult budget choices. To put this sum in perspective, we present 16 potential ways that income could be used.

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Report | CoPIRG | Tax

Apples to Twinkies 2012

At a time when America is facing an obesity epidemic, crushing debt and a weak economy, billions of taxpayer dollars are subsidizing junk food ingredients.

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Report | CoPIRG | Tax

Picking Up the Tab

Some U.S.-based multinational firms or individuals avoid paying U.S. taxes by transferring their earnings to tax haven countries with minimal or no taxes. These tax haven users 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.

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Report | CoPIRG | Tax

Following the Money 2012

Colorado received a “C-” when it comes to government spending transparency, according to Following the Money 2012: How the States Rank on Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data, the third annual report of its kind by the Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG). 

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Priority Action

The CUT Loopholes Act would put an end to the price and profit shifting that allows publicly traded companies to engage in pervasive tax avoidance.

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