On the recordJuly 14, 2011
today I am introducing the International Tax Competitiveness Act, legislation that will protect American businesses and workers by ensuring that they can compete on a level playing field with competitors who are using tax evasion to boost profits and ship jobs and dollars overseas. This bill targets companies that cheat the Federal Government out of billions of dollars a year in revenue by taking advantage of tax loopholes. This legislation is designed to put an end to the practice where American companies avoid domestic taxes by moving their headquarters to a post office box overseas, while their executives and much of their workforce remain here in the United States. If you benefit from the protection of American laws and the talent of the American workforce, you should also pay taxes here in the United States. In March, the television program 60 Minutes aired a story on tax avoidance that centered on Zug, a town in Switzerland. While Zug has only 26,000 residents, it is home to nearly 30,000 corporations, many of which operate out of mailboxes. This is because the tax rates in Zug are low and companies can create phony headquarters there that allow them to avoid higher taxes in their home country. The International Tax Competitiveness Act also discourages tax abuse related to transfer pricing.…
