Durbin: Inverters Are Deserters
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke on the U.S. Senate Floor to discuss a tactic called corporate inversions, a move many companies are considering. These companies move their headquarters overseas, but only on paper, to avoid U.S. taxes. In his speech, Durbin highlighted the fact that these companies are effectively renouncing their American corporate citizenship.
“Corporate tax inversion is a strategy used by companies to dodge U.S. taxes, plain and simple. This clever tax strategy has been used by nearly 50 companies in the last 10 years to renounce their American corporate citizenship but still profit off of U.S. customers,” Durbin said. “We need to fix our broken tax system that gives tax breaks and benefits to companies that invert, ship jobs overseas, and take advantage of our laws.”
Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate Floor is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate Floor is available here.
Today, the Senate voted 93-7 to begin debate on Bring Jobs Home Act of 2014. The bill would reward companies that move a production line or jobs currently overseas back home and eliminates tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. Durbin is a co-sponsor of the bill.
In addition to co-sponsoring the Bring Jobs Home Act of 2014, Durbin has introduced the Patriot Employer Tax credit Act of 2014 which would provide a tax credit to companies that provide fair wages and good benefits to workers while closing a tax loophole that incentivizes corporations to send jobs overseas. The loophole costs the U.S. Treasury approximately $50 billion each year at a time when outsourced jobs and stagnant wages force more American families to turn to safety net programs to make ends meet.
Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the FY15 Department of Defense Appropriations bill. As chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee which drafted the legislation, Durbin included a provision prohibiting companies that invert from receiving defense contracts. The provision continues the long-standing restriction in appropriations bills prohibiting companies that invert from receiving defense contracts. It also updates this language by closing the acquisition inversion loophole and improves the definition of inverted corporations.