Senators Propose Legislation to Crack Down on Offshore Tax Havens

A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate would make the frequently abused "deferral" of taxes on American-owned corporations unavailable when those corporations are operating in a tax haven, that is, a country that does not cooperate with U.S. tax enforcement efforts. The legislation is sponsored by Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Carl Levin (D-MI) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) and targets a tax provision that should be eliminated according to CTJ Executive Director Bob McIntyre. His testimony to the Senate Budget Committee last week regarding the "Tax Gap" included a proposal to repeal the "deferral" of these taxes, which is more like an exemption for the income that is claimed to be foreign. McIntyre argues that anyone with income that really is taxed overseas gets a credit for foreign taxes paid anyway, so the real effect of such a proposal would be simply to reduce tax evasion.