Democrat Clark Targets U.S. Corporate Tax Shelters

[papau]

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-campaign-clark.html

January 8, 2004
Democrat Clark Targets U.S. Corporate Tax Shelters
By REUTERS


Filed at 5:42 p.m. ET
CONCORD, N.H. (Reuters) - Retired general Wesley Clark, on the rise in two recent polls of the Democratic presidential race, on Thursday vowed to end ``corporate welfare'' by cracking down on the shelters U.S. companies use to avoid taxes and increasing the penalties faced by offenders.

Campaigning with Enron Corp. whistle-blower Sherron Watkins, who has become a symbol of U.S. corporate governance reforms, Clark fleshed out details of his plan to finance middle class tax cuts by clawing back up to $10 billion a year in revenues now lost to corporate tax avoidance schemes.

``We seem to have created a tax system that's encouraging American businesses to devote resources to avoiding taxes,'' he said. ``It shouldn't be that way.''

Clark's plan would seek to outlaw all tax shelters, which would be defined as any financial transactions conducted solely for the purpose of avoiding taxes. It would also double the current fines for corporations found to have abused the tax code and quadruple them for repeat offenders.

``Today the fines simply aren't high enough to deter companies,'' he said. ``The chances of getting caught are too low and the pay-offs are too high.''<snip>

[Clark4Prez]

1. But, but, but he's really a Republican

So this can't be right, can it?????

Thanks for the post.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

10. I know you're joking but....

...for those who are anti-Clark I have to point out he's pretty consistent in this area. I remember when Tweety interviewed him on Hardball Clark pointed out that U.S. companies should not rewarded for locating offshore or moving jobs out of the country.

[funky_bug]

2. Confused?

I thought he was a corporate whore?

[ClarkGraham2004]

3. According Printer70, Clark loves corpratism.

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. You better remove that posters name from your post

or they will remove your post. :) I found out the hard way when some wonderful Duer reported a post of mine today.

[ClarkGraham2004]

7. it would lose it's meaning

Let 'em remove it, I don't care. This Clark bashing has to stop.



www.clark04.com

[in_cog_ni_to]

9. Okee Dokee.

:7 You can only do that 30 times you know? Then you get banned. Just a heads up.

I agree with you about the Clark bashing. They're rabid since their guy is falling in the polls. :grr:

[blm]

6. Dean has the most corporate friendly record of all the candidates.

But, they don't care about his record. They only care what he says NOW. As if records of HOW one governed gives them no insight into who dean really is while in power.

Sheesh...so creepy.

[Eric J in MN]

4. He's going to need a better definition.

He's going to need a better definition than "any financial transactions conducted solely for the purpose of avoiding taxes."

According to that, buying a product in the duty-free zone of an airport is illegal, if you could have bought it elsewhere more conveniently.

It would make more sense to refuse to recognize American corporations who reincorporate in Bermuda as Bermudan.

[in_cog_ni_to]

8. This is a crock.

Clark voted for Reagan, he's a republican. There's no way this is his policy. He's a corporate whore. :grr: ~~~sarcasm off~~~

[TexasSissy]

11. He's also aiming at the tax provisions encouraging offshoring.

All these tax loopholes run together. A good plan.