5:49 p.m. CDT, April 15, 2013
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The annual cost of corporate tax breaks, including one that eases shifting profits offshore and out of the U.S. taxman's reach, has more than doubled to $180 billion since 1987, according to a report released on Monday.
Corporate tax deferral, the potential indefinite postponement of U.S. taxes on profits held offshore, makes up nearly a quarter of that sum, according to a Government Accountability Office report released on April 15, which is the deadline for individuals to file their tax returns.The study comes as lawmakers work to revamp the U.S. tax code, a task expected to involve scrubbing the code of breaks to fund a cut in the top corporate income tax rate, now at 35 percent. Legislation is expected this year in the U.S. House of Representatives and possibly the Senate.
Comments from special interests streamed in late on Monday to the House committee that is leading the drive to overhaul the code. Midnight was the deadline for taxpayers to comment.
Prospects for an overhaul are unclear, with Republicans and Democrats squabbling over whether new revenue is needed, and corporate lobbyists gearing up to protect their tax perks.
The last major rewrite of the U.S. tax code occurred in 1986, as a divided Congress agreed to lower rates and cut deductions under Republican President Ronald Reagan. Since then the code has been larded up with special provisions.
Republican Representative Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, said that all tax perks potentially were on the chopping block, with the goal of simplifying the code and cutting individual and corporate tax rates.
Revenue lost by the government from corporate tax provisions rose to $180 billion in 2011 from $84 billion in 1987, according to the GAO. That figure was $116 billion in 2010, after which Congress further extended corporate tax write-offs.
MORE: U.S. loses $180 billion to corporate tax breaks: report
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The annual cost of corporate tax breaks, including one that eases shifting profits offshore and out of the U.S. taxman's reach, has more than doubled to $180 billion since 1987, according to a report released on Monday.
Corporate tax deferral, the potential indefinite postponement of U.S. taxes on profits held offshore, makes up nearly a quarter of that sum, according to a Government Accountability Office report released on April 15, which is the deadline for individuals to file their tax returns.The study comes as lawmakers work to revamp the U.S. tax code, a task expected to involve scrubbing the code of breaks to fund a cut in the top corporate income tax rate, now at 35 percent. Legislation is expected this year in the U.S. House of Representatives and possibly the Senate.
Comments from special interests streamed in late on Monday to the House committee that is leading the drive to overhaul the code. Midnight was the deadline for taxpayers to comment.
Prospects for an overhaul are unclear, with Republicans and Democrats squabbling over whether new revenue is needed, and corporate lobbyists gearing up to protect their tax perks.
The last major rewrite of the U.S. tax code occurred in 1986, as a divided Congress agreed to lower rates and cut deductions under Republican President Ronald Reagan. Since then the code has been larded up with special provisions.
Republican Representative Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, said that all tax perks potentially were on the chopping block, with the goal of simplifying the code and cutting individual and corporate tax rates.
Revenue lost by the government from corporate tax provisions rose to $180 billion in 2011 from $84 billion in 1987, according to the GAO. That figure was $116 billion in 2010, after which Congress further extended corporate tax write-offs.
MORE: U.S. loses $180 billion to corporate tax breaks: report
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