We urge you to instruct the Treasury Department to update its 2014 Notice or issue a new Notice to prevent Pfizer and other corporate tax dodgers from shirking their responsibility to pay the taxes they owe on their current untaxed offshore profits. Pfizer alone owes an estimated $35 billion on its stash of untaxed offshore profits. That huge sum could be used to pay for investments in education, infrastructure, public safety, renewable energy, medical research, and much more. Mr. President, please stand up for the American people -- not corporate tax dodgers!
Response to Petition
A response to your petition on corporate tax avoidance:
On March 22, 2016, a petition you signed -- urging the Administration to address corporate tax avoidance -- gained 100,000 signatures, the threshold for receiving a White House response. Thank you for your interest and engagement on this issue.
We are unable to comment on specific companies or deals, but we want to let you know that for years, President Obama has highlighted the unfairness of the so-called “corporate inversions” tax loophole, which allows U.S. companies to avoid U.S. taxes by relocating -- on paper -- to a foreign country.
Since 2014, the President has called upon Congress to close the inversions loophole, and has included a legislative proposal to close the loophole in each of his last three Budgets.
While Congress has thus far failed to act, the Treasury Department has used its authority under existing law to make it more difficult for American companies to undertake a tax inversion and to reduce the financial benefits of doing so. In fact, Treasury announced additional steps this month to limit inversions, building upon two prior actions it took in 2014 and 2015. The new actions address so-called “serial inversions” and limit a corporate tax avoidance practice known as “earnings stripping.”
In recognizing Treasury’s latest action, President Obama said:
“When companies exploit loopholes like this, it makes it harder to invest in the things that will keep America strong for future generations. . . . Many of those loopholes come at the expense of middle class families -- because that lost revenue could have been used to invest in our schools, make college more affordable, put people back to work building our roads, and create more opportunities for our children.”
Treasury’s action will limit corporate inversions, but it will not stop them outright -- only legislation can to do that. That’s why President Obama once again called upon Congress to immediately close the inversions loophole for good.
The proposal to stop corporate inversions is part of President Obama’s overall efforts to make the tax code fairer for working families -- including ending wasteful tax loopholes for those at the top, strengthening tax credits that help working families, and reforming our business tax system so that it encourages investment and job creation here in America.
Thank you.
-- The We the People Team