On the recordJuly 12, 2011
I am introducing today with my colleagues Senators Conrad, Bill Nelson, Sanders, Shaheen, and Whitehouse, the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, legislation which is geared to stop the $100 billion yearly drain on the U.S. treasury caused by offshore tax abuses. Offshore tax abuses are not only undermining public confidence in our tax system, but widening the deficit and increasing the tax burden on middle America. People are sick and tired of tax dodgers using offshore trickery and abusive tax shelters to avoid paying their fair share. This bill offers powerful new tools to combat those offshore and tax shelter abuses, raise revenues, and eliminate incentives to send U.S. profits and jobs offshore. Its provisions will hopefully be part of any deficit reduction package this year, but should be adopted in any event. The bill is supported by a wide array of small business, labor, and public interest groups, including the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency, FACT, Coalition, American Sustainable Business Council, Business for Shared Prosperity, Main Street Alliance, AFL-CIO, SEIU, Citizens for Tax Justice, Tax Justice Network-USA, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Global Financial Integrity, Global Witness, Jubilee USA, and Public Citizen. Frank Knapp, president and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, has explained small business support for the bill this way: Small businesses are the lifeblood of local economies.…





