llinois PIRG takes on Bank of America’s Cayman Islands PO Box
From Illinois Review
Stacks-of-Cash-psd60499CHICAGO – The Illinois Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) really is irritated with the Bank of America. Along with other Occupy Wall Street like minded folks, they’re out to get more $$ from B of A because the bank takes advantage of tax loopholes to keep funds rather than send more to the Obama Administration. An email from Brian Imus, the organization’s State Director, wants free market opponents to send cards to the Bank of America’s Cayman address:
This Tax Day, picture a tiny P.O. Box in the Cayman Islands, just one of the offshore “subsidiaries” where Bank of America stashes away $17.2 billion to dodge its taxes.
You’d think Bank of America’s Cayman Islands headquarters would be a big flashy building, full of busy and serious employees.
But we know better — their offshore branch is just a mailbox set up by a clever accountant — and with your help, we’re going to have some fun by calling them out.
Then Illinois Public Interest Research Group asks its supporters to “Help us stuff Bank of America’s Cayman Islands mailbox with postcards. For a $10 contribution to our campaign, we’ll send your postcard to let them know that you’re fed up with picking up the tab for tax dodgers.”
This is the same big bank that gladly took a taxpayer bailout during the financial crisis. Yet it avoids a $4.5 billion tax bill each year through tax havens.
Altogether, offshore tax havens cost $150 billion every year — forcing the rest of us to pick up the tab with higher taxes, cuts to public programs, or more debt. On average, each Illinois taxpayer pays $1,058 extra to cover the tax haven tax dodge.[1]
And when big corporations play by their own rules, they put other businesses at a disadvantage by profiting handsomely from our educated workforce, infrastructure and national security — without paying their share in taxes for these public services.
It’s perfectly legal, but it sure isn’t right.
In fact most Americans support shutting down tax havens, and we have a plan to build on the emerging bipartisan support in Congress to outlaw these tax loopholes once and for all.
That plan begins by putting Bank of America and other corporate tax dodgers on notice that we know about the tiny mailboxes that are costing the rest of us a fortune.
Another plea calls for supporters to “Send a postcard to Bank of America’s Cayman Islands mailbox and let them know: We’re tired of your tax dodging, and we’re not going to stand for it any longer.
Thanks for your support,
Brian Imus
Illinois PIRG State Director
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