WHEREAS:

Corporate inversions allow U.S. corporations to avoid paying their tax obligations to the United States. Corporations accomplish this by buying a foreign company and then moving their corporate address to that country. The bulk of the corporations’ operations are maintained in the U.S., but they pay much lower taxes because of their official overseas address; and

WHEREAS:

These inversions allow corporations to pay billions of dollars less in U.S. taxes because after the inversion they only pay taxes on U.S. generated income rather than on global income. The corporations also are relieved from paying taxes on untaxed offshore income if they invert; and

WHEREAS:

U.S. corporations including Walgreens, Medtronic, AbbeVie and Pfizer have all taken steps to implement corporate tax inversions in recent years; and

WHEREAS:

Corporations “deserting” the U.S. and renouncing their corporate U.S. citizenship still want all the benefits of operating in America. They simply want to avoid paying their fair share of taxes; and

WHEREAS:

When corporations avoid paying billions of dollars of U.S. taxes they would otherwise owe, the tax burden on responsible corporations and citizens is unfairly increased; and

WHEREAS:

The U.S. Treasury Department has proposed, but not finalized, a regulatory change that would prevent Pfizer and other corporations from implementing corporate inversions; and

WHEREAS:

AFSCME recently joined 55 public interest groups in a joint letter to the U.S. Treasury asking it to implement regulations to stop corporate tax inversions; and

WHEREAS:

There is Congressional legislation pending that would reform the U.S. Corporate Tax Code to prevent corporate tax inversions and retain billions of dollars of corporate taxes in the U.S.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will continue to work with coalition partners to highlight the harmful effects of corporate tax inversions and the billions of dollars lost to the U.S. Treasury; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will continue to urge and support efforts both by the Obama Administration and in the U.S. Congress to end corporate tax inversions.

SUBMITTED BY: Salvatore Luciano, Executive Director and Delegate

AFSCME Council 4

Connecticut