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Business Leaders Say Time For Plan C: Big Corporations Should Pay Fair Share In Fiscal Cliff Deal

Business Leaders Say Time For Plan C: Big Corporations Should Pay Fair Share In Fiscal Cliff Deal

Published 12-20-12

Submitted by American Sustainable Business Council

Business owners and executives say it’s time for Plan C: big corporations now dodging billions in taxes should pay their fair share. Forget Plan B tax breaks for those making $999,999 a year, cuts to Social Security, and “revenue neutral” corporate tax reform. Instead, the American Sustainable Business Council, Business for Shared Prosperity and the Main Street Alliance call on Congress and the President to close corporate tax haven loopholes costing the U.S. Treasury $100 billion a year and raise corporate tax revenues above today’s historically low levels.

“With corporate profits at a 50-year high and corporate taxes as a share of the economy at a 50-year low, now is not the time to lock in low corporate taxes,” said Joseph Magid, president of Gryphon Systems, a management consulting company in Wynnewood, PA. “Our country can not afford to keep giving tax breaks and loopholes to giant corporations at the expense of smaller businesses. Highly profitable U.S. multinationals should pay their fair share.”

“You can dress up your profits in Bermuda shorts. But that doesn’t mean they’re not earned in America,” said Lew Prince, managing partner of Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis, the Midwest’s largest independent music store. “There’s nothing neutral about big business tax dodging – it’s unpatriotic plain and simple.”

“Small businesses like mine put our money back into our operations which keeps jobs, investment and tax dollars right here in our own communities,” said Eric Henry, president of TS Designs, a T-shirt manufacturer in Burlington, NC. “The corporate tax code should not give incentives to U.S. multinational corporations to hide their revenues offshore and avoid paying their fair share.”

Last year, corporate taxes accounted for less than 8 percent of federal tax revenues – way down from 32 percent in 1952. Corporations are not paying their fair share for the public infrastructure and services they depend on.

ReShonda Young, operations manager of Alpha Express, Inc, a family business that provides local, regional and national delivery service, based in Waterloo, Iowa, said, “We're not afraid to compete with the biggest delivery companies out there, but it needs to be a fair fight, not one in which big corporations use loopholes to avoid their taxes, stick our business with the tab, and rob our nation of the resources we need for a healthy economy.”

“Job creation is driven by customer demand, not tax cuts,” said Josh Knauer, president and CEO of Rhiza Labs, a Pittsburgh-based software company. “Tax dollars were a vital component in America's past innovations and infrastructure, fostering economic success. Tax dollars remain a vital component of our economy today.”

More than 600 business owners and executives, including those quoted above, signed a letter sent by the American Sustainable Business Council, Business for Shared Prosperity and the Main Street Alliance to Congress and the President last week, saying they “want a tax system that is fair and provides sufficient revenue for the public services and infrastructure that underpin our economy. When powerful large U.S. corporations avoid their fair share of taxes, they undermine U.S. competitiveness, contribute to the national debt and shift more of the tax burden to domestic businesses, especially small businesses that create most of the new jobs.”

“It’s time for Plan C: revenue positive corporate tax reform that calls upon our largest corporations to pay their fair share and once again invest in America, which has invested so much in their success,” said Scott Klinger, tax policy director of Business for Shared Prosperity and the American Sustainable Business Council.

Read the full business letter to Congress and the President here.

See the updated list of signers here.

* Business owners available for interview in addition to those cited above. *

Contact Bob Keener, bkeener@asbcouncil.org, 617-610-6766 to arrange interviews.

The American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC) and its member organizations represent more than 150,000 businesses nationwide, and more than 300,000 entrepreneurs, executives, managers and investors. ASBC informs and engages policy makers and the public about the need and opportunities for building a vibrant and sustainable economy. www.asbcouncil.org

Business for Shared Prosperity (BSP) is a national network of forward thinking business owners, executives and investors, and is an ASBC member. BSP produced the report, The Business Case for Restoring Tax Rates for High-Income Taxpayers to Pre-Bush Levels. www.businessforsharedprosperity.org

The Main Street Alliance (MSA) is a national network of state and locally based small business groups that creates opportunities for Main Street small business owners to speak for themselves on issues that impact their businesses and local economies. www.mainstreetalliance.org

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American Sustainable Business Council

American Sustainable Business Council

The American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC) is a national coalition of mission-driven businesses, social enterprises and sustainable business networks working to create a vibrant, just and sustainable economy. What unites us is a deep belief that we must move to a new economy that is grounded in principles of sustainability and equity.

The Council represents over 55,000 businesses and enterprises and more than 150,000 executives, owners, investors, entrepreneurs and business professionals. It is comprised of partners, which are organizations that represent businesses and social enterprises as well as entrepreneurs, executives, owners and investors committed to building a vibrant, just, and sustainable economy.

ASBC promotes policy change by educating and informing the business community, policy makers and the media about the business case for change, and by engaging the leaders of businesses and enterprises in building broad support for the policies America needs. We work on a range of policy areas, including: financial reform, health care, chemicals policy, climate change and business taxes.

We believe that the policies that will lead us to a sustainable and just economy are also good for business and good for America. Making the right commitments and investments will produce more and better jobs, build strength in key technologies, and make the U.S. more independent and secure.

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