John,

Finally, pharmaceutical corporations are being held liable for their role in the devastating opioid epidemic that has ravaged American communities. But, according to new reporting by the Washington Post, four big drug corporations plan to deduct the cost of opioid-abuse settlements from their corporate taxes, to the tune of $4.6 billion ― at your and my expense.[1]

Johnson & Johnson, Cardinal Health, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen will each receive roughly $1 billion back from U.S. taxpayers when they file their income taxes this year. Their $4.6 billion in corporate income tax breaks comes from deducting the costs of a $26 billion opioid crisis settlement they made with state and local governments.

And, as no surprise, these taxpayer-funded loopholes are a result of the Trump-GOP tax scam that Republicans passed in 2017, and a provision included in the 2020 pandemic relief CARES Act, which was supposed to be about addressing people’s basic needs in the pandemic ― not providing outrageous corporate handouts.[2]

The fact that huge corporations, implicated in their role in the tragic opioid epidemic, can write off a big chunk of the cost of their wrongdoing is unconscionable. Sign the petition demanding Congress immediately repeal this tax break for corporations that are abusing our tax laws.

Most of these tax breaks are due to language in the 2017 tax scam that allows corporations to write-off settlements characterized as “restitution.” And no surprise, each corporation implicated in the opioid epidemic appears to have been successful using “restitution” language in their settlement agreements.

Additionally, a provision included in the CARES Act ― the first big pandemic relief legislation signed into law last March ― allows corporations to apply losses from recent years against profits from earlier years, including years prior to 2018 when the corporate tax rate was two-thirds higher than it is now.

By applying the loss to those higher-taxed years and amending their prior-year tax returns, the drug corporations pocket bigger refunds than they would ordinarily be entitled to ― in this case increasing their taxpayer-funded credit by 40%.

It is past time for Congress to serve the people, not the special interests ― especially those corporations that have contributed to drug addiction and deaths.

Sign the petition demanding Congress immediately close these corporate tax loopholes, which are being abused by those who have recklessly killed and poisoned our friends, families and communities.

Thank you for fighting to hold Big Pharma accountable to the American people.

Frank Clemente
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness

[1] “Drug companies seek billion-dollar tax deductions from opioid settlement,” Feb. 12, 2021, Washington Post

[2] “CARES Act Helps Create $4.6 Billion Tax Cut for Health Care Companies Paying Opioid Settlements,” Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Feb. 12, 2021