Senator Whitehouse hopes compromise will close tax loopholes used by large corporations + Poll
PROVIDENCE — With tax reform one issue that congressional Republicans and Democrats might agree on this year, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse announced Monday his plans to introduce three bills aimed at making the super rich pay more through a “fairer” tax system and closing loopholes that allow some corporations to avoid paying any tax.
Whitehouse, a Democrat, said the three measures, which target “some of the worst excesses in the tax code,” could raise more than $310 billion over 10 years for such things as road and bridge repairs and reducing the budget deficit. The extra money would make it easier for the federal government to offer corporate tax breaks to companies such as Rhode Island-based CVS, which pays its full share of taxes.
One bill, the Paying a Fair Share Act, would end loopholes that allow America’s top earners to often pay a lower tax rate than middle-class workers.
The measure, which Whitehouse has previously proposed, is often referred to as the Buffet Rule, named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who famously lamented that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.
The act would require multimillionaires to pay a 30-percent federal tax rate after earning $2 million or more. The act could generate about $71 billion in additional revenue over 10 years, Whitehouse said.
A second bill, the Offshoring Prevention Act, would also end tax breaks that allow U.S. companies that manufacture goods abroad for sale at home to defer payment of federal income tax.
The legislation would “require companies that send factories and jobs overseas to play by the same rules as ones supporting jobs in the U.S.,” said Whitehouse. It would generate an estimated $19.5 billion in revenue over 10 years, he said.
A third bill, the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, attempts to close loopholes that allow companies to avoid paying taxes by funneling assets and profits through complex networks of offshore corporations.
Whitehouse said Fortune 500 companies hold roughly $2 trillion in offshore holdings to benefit from favorable foreign tax systems and bank secrecy.
If approved, the act could generate $220 billion in revenue over 10 years.
Before any tax reform discussion begins, Whitehouse said, “I wanted to make sure that we were trying to keep that conversation as fair as possible for regular taxpayers, because regular taxpayers don’t have the resources to hire lobbyists to go out and create special provisions for them in the tax code.”
