Legislators’ letter encourages strong implementation of 15 percent corporate minimum tax

Three United States legislators, led by Massachusetts’ Sen. Elizabeth Warren, sent a letter to the Treasury Secretary calling for a strong implementation of the 15 percent corporate minimum tax.

The corporate minimum tax is stated in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to be placed on billion-dollar corporations, according to a press release.

Warren, Sen. Angus King of Maine, Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, and U.S. Rep. Donald S. Beyer of Virginia sent the letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last week.

“After nearly three decade of corporate tax cuts, this historic legislation will prevent the largest, most profitable corporations from paying less in taxes than small businesses and middle-class families, while helping to pay down the deficit, lower energy and healthcare costs, and fight inflation,” the letter states. “We look forward to continuing to partner with you in the implementation of the corporate minimum tax to limit the ability of corporations that report $1 billion or more in profits to their shareholders to minimize or eliminate their federal income tax liability.”

For three years after the 2017 corporate tax cuts, the press release stated, FedEx, Salesforce and 37 other corporations in the S&P 500 or Fortune 500 paid nothing in federal income taxes. Amazon paid only 5.1 percent in federal tax on $78.6 billion in profits from 2018 to 2021.

The letter states: “The Inflation Reduction Act will put a floor on this tax avoidance and limit the ability of these corporations that report at least $1 billion in profits to their shareholders to pay less than a minimum 15 percent federal tax rate, still well below the statutory rate of 21 percent.”