Obama's attempt to close offshore tax havens

ACTUAL TAX RATES VS. EFFECTIVE TAX RATES

• The corporate tax rate in the United States is 35% before exemptions, tax havens, and other deductions.
• Of U.S. corporations with more than $250 million in assets or $50 million in sales, 25% paid no federal income taxes at all in 2005 (the most recent year for which such data is available). [GAO]
• The average corporation pays 25.3% now. They paid more than 49 percent in the 1950s, 38 percent in the 1960s, and 33 percent in the 1970s.[CBPP]
• One loophole frequently used by corporations: deferral. Right now, corporations are allowed to defer taxation on profits they make overseas until they bring the profits back to the U.S., allowing them to drastically reduce their tax rates. For example, GE went from a 35% tax rate down to a 5% tax rate by using tax deferrals. Bonus: this means that companies will not bring profits back to the U.S.[WSJ]