Corporate Greed Vs. Our Communities' Needs!
It’s happening again… big corporations are trying to avoid paying their fair share in taxes.
We're not surprised, but we are taking action!
Big business lobbyists are pushing legislators to pass regressive taxes and fees that disproportionately affect low- and middle-income people, in order to fund investments in our roads, bridges, and public transportation. Their proposal includes a series of user fees, including a 15 cent/gallon increase in the gas tax, higher tolls, and new fees on ride-hailing. Noticeably absent is a greater contribution from large, profitable businesses.
We need major investments in transportation, but we cannot balance our budgets on the backs of working people! Rather than only asking working people to pay more, it is long overdue and absolutely necessary that our elected officials ask corporations to pay their fair share. Large, profitable corporations have continually exploited loopholes, tax breaks, and offshore tax havens to only pay the bare minimum of taxes in our commonwealth.
We can fix this problem with legislation now! Here's what we're advocating for:
GILTI (Global Intangible Low Taxed Income) - Many multinational corporations who do business in MA use provisions of the federal tax code to shift their US profits to offshore tax havens. A state GILTI tax would mirror federal law and tax a portion of those offshore profits.
Tiered Corporate Minimum – Many large corporations who do business in MA use various tax breaks and loopholes to pay only the existing corporate minimum tax of $456 per year. A tiered corporate minimum tax would ensure that larger corporations pay a minimum in proportion to the size of their business in MA, while small businesses continue paying the current minimum.
Corporate Disclosure - Research and advocacy around closing corporate loopholes is made more difficult because of the lack of available information about how much taxes specific corporations pay. Adequate corporate disclosure laws would help identify bad actors in the business community and allow us to measure the effects of the loopholes in our existing corporate tax rules.
We need major and continued investments in our roads, bridges, and public transportation systems all across Massachusetts. That’s why Raise Up Massachusetts is leading the fight to place the Fair Share Amendment, which would raise $2 billion each year for transportation and public education, on the 2022 ballot.
In the meantime, large, profitable corporations move their goods on our publicly-funded roads and bridges, bring their employees to work on our public transportation systems, and benefit from our highly educated workforce. But too many of these same corporations use loopholes to hide their profits, exploit tax breaks to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, and use weak corporate disclosure laws to keep the public in the dark about their low tax payments.
It’s time for large, profitable corporations pay their fair share! Voice your concern to your elected officials about regressive revenue and voice your support for corporate fair share. Please take 2 minutes to support the campaign, and click here to call or email your legislator!