Close corporate tax loopholes for large companies
Boeing won’t be paying any taxes this year [“Boeing has big tax refund coming from Uncle Sam — again,” seattletimes.com, March 1].
Instead, by deferring tax payments, it will be getting a $199 million refund. It’s not alone; many corporations are avoiding taxes altogether through loopholes. In the Senate there is a bill that would close corporate tax loopholes that allow multinational corporations to hide their profits overseas to avoid paying taxes, and we should encourage Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to champion it.
At least 82 of the top 100 publicly traded companies in America use tax havens like the Cayman Islands. Offshore tax dodging amounts to $150 billion a year in lost revenue — costing the average small business in Washington $3,616 extra each year, according to WashPIRG data. Small businesses, like individual taxpayers, are obligated to pay their taxes, so why should multinational corporations get off the hook?
We must urge our senators to push hard to cut these loopholes while we have this bill in Congress. It’s vital that these loopholes are closed not only to make sure we have a fair playing field for all businesses to compete on, but to also because it prevents the rest of us from picking up the $150 billion tab.
Credit: Seattle Times
