John,

Corporate lobbyists have been pressuring Congress to pass multiple corporate tax handouts before year-end. And it appears they may try to attach them to next week’s must-pass stopgap spending bill to keep the government running.

Take action now and demand that Congress prioritize families and children, not pass more tax breaks for billion-dollar corporations. Click here to write to your senators and representative today.

After you take action, check out David’s email below, which provides details on the two most egregious corporate tax handouts that corporate lobbyists are demanding. These would cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue at a time when Congress claims we can’t afford critical investments in working families.

Thank you for taking action today, demanding a tax system and economy that puts children, families, and working people first.

Sarah Christopherson
Legislative and Policy Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund

-- David's email --

John,

There are serious negotiations in Congress underway right now to attach a tax package to the must-pass stopgap spending bill being voted on next week. And while there is some very positive news that the bill will include an expanded Child Tax Credit—potentially lifting millions of children out of poverty—Republicans are demanding two huge, highly partisan handouts to large, profitable corporations as their price for helping kids.

The tax package is being written right now, with a vote expected next week. Write to your members of Congress and tell them that instead of giving more tax breaks to corporations, we should prioritize families and children with the lowest incomes.

Here are the two most egregious corporate tax handouts that corporate lobbyists are demanding:

Extending 100% Bonus Depreciation, which would allow corporations to write off immediately the full cost of assets that hold their value a long time. Cost = $325 billion over 10 years.[1]

Americans for Tax Fairness research shows that a dozen of the biggest corporate beneficiaries of this tax giveaway have already reaped nearly $43 billion in tax savings from this loophole alone, and paid effective tax rates far below the statutory 21% corporate tax rate.

Corporations claim that without this tax break, they’d be forced to roll back business investments. But ATF research shows that while this loophole was in effect from 2018 to 2022, corporations spent their tax windfall on enriching executives and wealthy shareholders. Here are just a few:

• Google (Alphabet): Paid their top 5 executives $1.1 billion in compensation packages and spent $168 billion on stock buybacks

• Amazon: Paid their top 5 executives $713 million and spent $6 billion on stock buybacks

• Bank of America: Paid their top 5 executives $504 million, spent $85 billion on stock buybacks, and $37 billion on dividend payments to shareholders

• General Motors: Paid their top 5 executives $318 million, spent $2.7 billion on stock buybacks, and $5.8 billion on dividend payments to shareholders

• Facebook (Meta): Paid their top 5 executives $672 million and spent $96 billion on stock buybacks

• Pepsico: Paid their top 5 executives $296 million, spent $8.6 billion on stock buybacks, and spent $28 billion on dividend payments

The other tax break is Expanding the Net Interest Deduction to allow corporations to deduct a bigger share of their interest costs by changing how the deduction is calculated. Cost = $200 billion over 10 years.

This deduction gives private equity firms taxpayer money to bankrupt our communities. Examples include Toys “R” Us, Payless ShoeSource, J.Crew, and NineWest. Most recently, private equity firm Cornell Capital drove the maker of Pyrex and Instant Pot kitchenware into bankruptcy just two years after forcing the company to take out big loans to fund a $245 million debt-financed payday to Cornell.[2]

There is little bipartisan support for either provision but Republicans are hoping they can hold kids hostage to ram these two tax cuts through. We’re demanding Congress put kids and families ahead of greedy corporate interests.

Write to your senators and representative now and tell Congress that instead of giving more tax breaks to corporations, they must prioritize children and families.

Together, we’re fighting for a tax system that puts working people first, not billion-dollar corporations.

David Kass
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund

[1] True Cost of Full Expensing Tax Break Masked by Temporary Extension
[2] Familiar tale of private equity and debt lands Instant Pot, Pyrex maker in bankruptcy