| Sign-on Letter to Congress Supporting the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act |
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On March 30, 2009, GFI and 28 other organizations formally submitted a letter to the Congressional leadership asking them to support the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act sponsored by Senator Carl Levin and Congressman Lloyd Doggett. Click here to download the PDF.
March 30, 2009 To: Congressional Leadership, Senate Finance, House Ways and Means Committees
The Honorable Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader
CC: The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Michael Froman
Offshore tax abuse costs the United States $100 billion a year in uncollected tax revenue. Additionally, recent events such as the investigation of the Stanford Financial Group, the continuing legal battle between the Justice Department and Swiss bank UBS, and a December 2008 GAO report noting that 83 of the top 100 publicly traded U.S. companies have subsidiaries in tax havens underscore the need for strengthening anti-tax evasion law and increasing transparency in the global economic system.
This is a critical time in global finance. The G-20 has issued strong words of intent to address the economic crisis when it convenes April 2nd in London. Addressing transparency, especially as it pertains to tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions, is clearly needed. Calls to confront tax havens have come from several quarters, including the IMF, the Vatican and various governments. We are pleased to note that the Obama administration fully supports the Levin bill.
We welcome this increased focus from Congress on the problem of tax haven abuse. Improving overall transparency and accountability is critical in this time of economic recession and global financial restructuring.
Sincerely, AFL-CIO |