Obama Applauds Subcommittee's Report Supporting the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act
Thursday, July 17, 2008
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CONTACT:Michael Ortiz, 202 228 5566
Report endorses Levin-Coleman-Obama Bill introduced in February 2007
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today released the following statement after the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released its report on tax haven banks and U.S. tax compliance and called for the enactment of the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, which Obama and Senators Levin (D-MI) and Coleman (R-MN) introduced last year. The report estimates that the United States loses approximately $100 billion in tax revenue each year as a result of offshore tax abuses.
The Levin-Coleman-Obama bill was introduced in February 2007, and improves the ability of the U.S. to investigate and prosecute financial criminal wrongdoing in offshore locations where tax secrecy practices enable taxpayers to dodge taxes.
"A new report estimates that offshore tax abuse costs U.S. taxpayers $100 billion annually as ordinary Americans pick up the slack for tax cheats who hide assets in offshore tax havens, often with the help of foreign banks like UBS and LGT.
"Today's hearing, which has already driven at least one bank to change its practices, shined a bright light on banking abuses and the need to combat bank secrecy. Washington must take the recommendations of the Subcommittee's report seriously and crack down on tax haven banks and enact the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act that I introduced with Senators Levin and Coleman to combat offshore tax abuse.
"I applaud Chairman Levin of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for his steadfast leadership on this important issue."