USA: Job Providers Seek Tax Reform as Part of Jobs Agenda

From TJN-USA and the FACT coalition:

Washington – On the eve of President Obama’s address to Congress and the nation on his plan to create jobs, a diverse coalition, including several small business organizations, calls for reforms to address tax breaks for large multi-national corporations.

In a letter (PDF) to President Obama, the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) coalition promotes tax reforms that impact small businesses, who provide jobs now and will continue to do so in the future. They write:

“We ask that you call on businesses of all sizes to join in the process of making and maintaining jobs here in the U.S. by closing the loopholes and reforming a system that incentivizes the offshoring of jobs and profits.

Any job creation agenda must address the offshoring issue and therefore should include:

• Eliminating loopholes in our tax system to make sure that the corporations that benefit from all of the resources, protections and markets in the United States pay their fair share of taxes;
• Requiring ownership information of all business entities, trusts, foundations and charities – information that indicates who actually controls these entities – be made available to law enforcement and the public; and
• Requiring country-by-country reporting by multi-national corporations of the sales made, profits earned and taxes paid in every jurisdiction where an entity operates.

Many of these proposals can be found in pending legislation, such as the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act (S. 1346), and the bipartisan Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act (S. 1483). Both of which are supported by this coalition.”

“Small businesses are the lifeblood of local economies. We pay our fair share of taxes, shop locally, support our schools and actually generate most of the new jobs. We need to end tax havens and use that revenue to invest in growing our small businesses. That is how we create a healthy economy,” said Frank Knapp, President of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, spokesperson for Business and Investors Against Tax Haven Abuse, and FACT coalition member.

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The FACT Coalition includes a broad range of organizations with an interest in seeing the loopholes closed due to their impact on jobs, critical programs, small businesses, human rights, corruption and national security. The FACT coalition seeks to achieve greater financial accountability and transparency within financial institutions, corporations and government. We invite you to learn more about us and our members at http://www.tjn-usa.org/current-campaigns.

CONTACT: Nicole Tichon
Executive Director

Tax Justice Network USA

nicole@tjn-usa.org

202-758-9552

Contact: Frank Knapp
President and CEO,

South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce

sbchamber@scsbc.org

803-252-5733