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Wall Street Titans Poised to Reap $28 Billion From a Single Provision of Senate Tax Bill

Nov. 28, 2017

Wall Street Titans Poised to Reap $28 Billion From a Single Provision of Senate Tax Bill

Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo Are Among the Big Banks Republicans Would Reward for Hoarding Profits Abroad

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The tax holiday proposal supported by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans would give nine top finance corporations a $28 billion tax break, a new report from Public Citizen and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) reveals.

Under the U.S. Senate version of the bill, corporations that use tax shelters abroad are offered a deeply discounted tax rate of 10 percent (from 35 percent) in an attempt to lure the corporations to bring their profits back into the U.S.

The nine big banks collectively hold more than $172 billion offshore, much of which is booked to their 2,270 tax haven subsidiaries across the globe.

Among finance corporations, the greatest share of offshore profits and potential tax savings would be enjoyed by Citigroup, which holds an estimated $47 billion in 137 offshore tax haven subsidiaries. The value of the proposed tax holiday for Citigroup is an estimated $9.3 billion.

The second and third biggest Wall Street beneficiaries would be JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.

“Why in the world should taxpayers reward Wall Street for evading taxes?” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. “What we need is not a tax holiday but a holiday from Wall Street’s scams. The booming banks on Wall Street should pay what they owe, with no inducements, holidays or discounts.”

“Years after receiving billions in taxpayer bailouts, Wall Street companies are set to receive billions more in tax breaks from the Senate repatriation proposal as a reward for their offshore tax avoidance.” said Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at ITEP. “This bill would allow these companies to avoid paying over two-thirds of the $40 billion they have avoided on the earnings they have booked offshore.”

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