FACT Sheet: Tax Haven Abuse by the Numbers

• $100 billion: The amount that the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations estimated in 2008 that the U.S. lost in tax revenue due to offshore tax abuse every year
1

• $1 trillion: the amount of unrepatriated foreign profits sitting offshore
2

• $810 billion: The average outflow of illicit money from developing countries per year between 2000-2008 as estimated by Global Financial Integrity
3

• 18,857: The number of registered businesses at one address in the Cayman Islands
4

• 217,000: The number of companies housed at 1209 Orange Street in Wilmington, Delaware
5

• 759: Number of offshore subsidiaries in tax havens for Citigroup, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley combined
6

• 83: number of the 100 largest U.S. companies that use offshore tax havens - including the big banks taxpayers bailed out in 2008
7

• $57.2 billion – Amount of money Egypt lost to trade mispricing and other forms of commercial crime between 2000 and 2008
8

• $2: Daily earnings for at least one third of Egyptians
9

• 30%: Corporate share of the nation’s tax receipts in the mid 1950s
10

• 6.6%: Corporate share of the nation’s tax receipts in 2009
11

• 64%: Publicly traded U.S. parent companies incorporated in Delaware
12

• 51%: Publicly traded U.S. subsidiaries incorporated in Delaware
13

• 6.2%: Next highest percentage of subsidiaries incorporated in any other state
14


Citations
1 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. TAX HAVEN BANKS AND U. S. TAX COMPLIANCE STAFF REPORT
http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/supporting/2008/071708PSIReport.pdf
This $100 billion estimate is derived from studies conducted by a variety of tax experts. See, e.g., Joseph
Guttentag and Reuven Avi-Yonah, “Closing the International Tax Gap,” in Max B. Sawicky, ed., Bridging the Tax Gap: Addressing the Crisis in Federal Tax Administration (2006) (estimating offshore tax evasion by individuals at $40-$70 billion annually in lost U.S. tax revenues); Kimberly A. Clausing, “Multinational Firm Tax Avoidance and U.S. Government Revenue” (August 2007) (estimating corporate offshore transfer pricing abuses resulted in $60 billion in lost U.S. tax revenues in 2004); John Zdanowics, “Who’s watching our back door?” Business Accents magazine, Volume 1, No.1, Florida International University (Fall 2004) (estimating offshore corporate transfer pricing abuses resulted in $53 billion in lost U.S. tax revenues in 2001); “The Price of Offshore,” Tax Justice Network briefing paper (March 2005) (estimating that, worldwide, individuals have offshore assets totaling $11.5 trillion, resulting in $255 billion in annual lost tax revenues worldwide); “Governments and Multinational Corporations in the Race to the Bottom,” Tax Notes (2/27/06); “Data Show Dramatic Shift of Profits to Tax Havens,” Tax Notes (9/13/04). See also series of 2007 articles authored by Martin Sullivan in Tax Notes (estimating over $1.5 trillion in hidden assets in four tax havens, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, and Switzerland, beneficially owned by nonresident individuals likely avoiding tax in their home jurisdictions), infra footnote 3.

2 Drucker, Jesse. “Tax Holiday for $1 Trillion May Lure Back Profits Without Growth.” Bloomberg. 17 March 2011 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-17/tax-holiday-for-1-trillion-may-lure-profits-without-spurring-u-s-growth.html

3 Kar, Dev and Curcio, Karly. Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries 2000-2009. Jan 2011

4 Government Accountability Office, International Taxation: Large U.S. Corporations and Federal Contractors with Subsidiaries In Jurisdictions Listed as Tax Havens or Financial Secrecy Jurisdictions, Dec 2008. http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08778high.pdf

5 Shaxson, Nicholas. (2011) Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and The Men Who Stole the World (p.143). London: The Bodley Head

6 Government Accountability Office, International Taxation: Large U.S. Corporations and Federal Contractors with Subsidiaries In Jurisdictions Listed as Tax Havens or Financial Secrecy Jurisdictions, Dec 2008. http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08778high.pdf

7 Id.

8 Kar, Dev and Curcio, Karly. Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries
2000-2009. Jan 2011

9 Bronner, Eithan. “Mubarak Denies Corruption and Defends His Legacy.” New York Times. 11 April 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/world/middleeast/11egypt.html?scp=1&sq=Egypt%20%242&st=cse

10 Kocieniewski, David. “G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether.” New York Times. 24 March 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html?_r=3

11 Id.

12Dyreng, Scott, Lindsey, Bradley P. and Thornock, Jacob R., Exploring the Role Delaware Plays as a Domestic Tax Haven 28 April 2011 http://ssrn.com/abstract=1737937

13 Id.

14 Id.

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