John,

In 2018 Walmart’s annual revenue reached $501 billion. And yet, their greed knows no limits.

Walmart’s tax dodging schemes have been well-documented for years. In 2015, an Americans for Tax Fairness report detailed how Walmart used foreign subsidiaries in numerous tax havens to avoid paying its fair share in taxes. And now, thanks to files recently divulged by a former executive, Walmart’s tax dodging goes beyond anything previously reported.

Between 2014 – 2017 Walmart appears to have avoided paying up to $2.6 billion in U.S. taxes through a fictitious overseas “tax nowhere” entity.

Together, it’s up to us to demand that the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share. When they do, we can better invest in critical services that lift up working families.

Thank you,

Dennis Bailey
Communications Director
Americans for Tax Fairness

John,

Did Walmart dodge $2.6 billion in U.S. taxes? According to a former executive, that seems to be the case.[1]

In November 2014, Walmart appears to have created a “fictitious” overseas entity that allowed it to avoid $2 billion in taxes in the first year and $200 million in each subsequent year. But by 2018, the Trump-GOP tax scam made this particular tax dodging scheme unnecessary.

In a 2015 report titled “The Walmart Web: How the world’s biggest corporation secretly uses tax havens to dodge taxes,” Americans for Tax Fairness outlined how Walmart, in an octopus-like manner, places assets in tax havens around the world where it has no retail stores. Our report estimated that more than one-third of Walmart’s then $205 billion in assets were located in shell companies in tax havens.[2]

And now, a new groundbreaking insider story from Quartz adds new evidence to our claims by detailing how Walmart engaged in deceit and tax dodging not previously known.

According to this new report: “To avoid paying tax in either the US or China, Walmart created a ‘tax nowhere’ entity that neither country would claim jurisdiction over, according to the former [Walmart] executive.”

Experts say that the IRS has a “legitimate claim” to recover these billions in unpaid taxes. Who knows what else it might find with an audit?

Join Americans for Tax Fairness in calling on the House Ways and Means Committee to investigate Walmart’s newly revealed tax dodging scheme and demand Walmart pay its fair share of taxes.

This is the powerful committee in Congress that oversees U.S. tax laws and the IRS, which has the authority to audit corporate behemoths like Walmart.

What could the U.S. do with $2.6 billion in tax revenue? We could better combat the opioid epidemic, which kills some 40,000 Americans and costs society $80 billion a year.[3] Or we could put a down payment on the $14 billion per year needed to fully fund Head Start and serve all the kids entitled to this vital program.[4]

Meanwhile, Walton family members who are the heirs of Walmart’s founder are the world’s wealthiest family — worth $191 billion.[5] Their wealth grew an astonishing $39 billion last year!!!

At a time when the rich keep getting richer and the president and congressional Republicans keep looking for ways to further-enrich the top 1%, it’s critical that Congress act to demand Walmart and all large corporations pay their fair share in taxes.

Sign the petition to the House Ways and Means Committee to investigate Walmart’s tax dodging scheme and hold it accountable to the American people.

Thank you for taking action demanding a tax system and an economy that makes the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share.

Frank Clemente
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness

[1] “Walmart dodged up to $2.6 billion in US tax through a ‘fictitious’ Chinese entity, former executive says,” Quartz, Sept. 5, 2019
[2] “The Walmart Web: How the world’s biggest corporation secretly uses tax havens to dodge taxes,” Americans for Tax Fairness, June 2015
[3] “Opioid Overdose Crisis,” National Institute on Drug Abuse, Jan. 2019
[4] “5 Cents Makes Sense,” Committee for Education Funding, Aug. 1, 2017
[5] “The Walton family gets $100 million richer every single day,” MarketWatch, Aug., 17, 2019