Motions to Instruct Conferees on H.R. 4348, Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012, Part II

Floor Speech

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Ms. MOORE. Thank you, Mr. Doggett. I am so pleased to join you here today to support this motion to instruct.

I was, of course, one of the original cosponsors of the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, which provides the authority for the Treasury to take action against foreign governments and financial institutions that significantly impede U.S. tax enforcement. Treasury already has similar authority to combat money laundering, so the infrastructure and the know-how already exist.

Congress has an opportunity in this transportation bill to transport this very important debt reduction initiative into our proceedings here today. It will stop sophisticated tax avoidance schemes that add to the national debt and ultimately the burden for that debt that honest taxpayers must bear and are concerned with.

In my home State of Wisconsin, it's estimated that every single honest taxpayer in Wisconsin paid an extra $372 in taxes in 2011 to make up from the revenue lost from corporations, criminals, and wealthy individuals utilizing illegal tax-avoidance schemes. These numbers are even more offensive for Wisconsin small businesses that pay an additional $2,165 due to these abuses of the Tax Code.

That may not seem like a lot of money to anyone--$372--but you multiply that by taxpayers and by 50 States, and according to a GAO study, that turns out to be $100 billion. That's a really nice piece of change.

I have heard this Congress often harp on the percentages and the numbers of United States taxpayers who are so very low income that they have no tax liability, people who make $10,000, $11,000 a year, and are so poor that they have no tax liability. Yet 83 of 100 publicly traded companies have one of these offshore tax havens and avoid $100 billion in tax payments. Compare that with someone trying to get an earned income tax credit.

I've heard from Republicans that this is not germane to the bill. I hope you'll remember that when you put some gun provision in every bill that comes around or some effort to minimize and take away a woman's right to reproductive health in one of your bills, which uses transportation for all of those kind of initiatives.

This is an opportunity to act on the deficit--$100 billion is not small change--and to stand up for taxpayers. It is not spending, as the gentleman has indicated that it is. All it is is not levying a new tax. It's not spending; it's not imposing additional burdens. It just empowers our Treasury to stop tax-avoidance schemes.

Again, thank you so much for this opportunity. I hope my colleagues will stand up for honest taxpayers and support this measure.

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