In This Together CT

For most of us, April means taxes, one of life’s great certainties. But some of Connecticut’s largest and most profitable corporations are playing a shell game, quietly shifting millions in profits out of state to avoid paying taxes.

Because of those corporate loopholes, the rest of us pay more. They win and we lose.

We simply can’t afford to let the big guys play by their own set of rules. It’s time to stop the shell games. Tell your legislators to close corporate tax loopholes:

http://fairtaxesct.org/send-a-message

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In this economic crisis every dollar counts – and every time a huge corporation like AT&T avoids a dollar in taxes, it comes right out of our schools, our hospitals, out of public safety or our libraries. Or else it means higher taxes on working families and small businesses.

AT&T became the poster child for tax avoidance when a DPUC audit found that they paid $145 million to an AT&T subsidiary in Nevada for use of their own logo. It’s a paper transaction that only exists to shift profits to Nevada, which has no corporate tax. Wal-Mart engages in an even more complex scheme involving paying rent on their stores to an out of state tax-exempt “real estate investment trust.”

How often does this really happen? It’s hard to know because in Connecticut, corporations aren’t required to disclose their transfers to out of state subsidiaries What we do know is that corporate taxes have dropped precipitously as a share of the state budget, from 24% in 1986 to 7% today.

We’re supporting legislation to stop paper transactions like these and make our state’s large and profitable corporations pay their fair share. It’s now a new idea — 23 other states already do it.

The legislature’s Finance Committee could vote on this legislation as soon as today.

Please take action right now. Connecticut can’t afford these loopholes anymore. Tell your legislators stop the shell game.

http://fairtaxesct.org/send-a-message

Thanks for all you do.

Please pass this message along to friends and family after you take action by forwarding this email or sharing on facebook.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 5th, 2010 at 10:46 am and is filed under Take Action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.