WSJ: Conrad's Budget Seeks Revenue from Offshore Tax Havens. Video of his floor speech.

[flpoljunkie]

Allure of the Islands: Revenue From Tax Havens?

By John D. McKinnon

Some Senate Democrats are looking to raise a boatload of new tax revenue from offshore tax havens.

In an outline of his budget plan on Monday, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D., N.D.) estimated that offshore tax havens and abusive shelters will cost the Treasury some $1.4 trillion over the next decade. He’s hoping to put a substantial dent in that total.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5gprhQ2eRg&feature=player_embedded

Senate Democrats also are hoping negotiators at the White House and in Congress will get interested in the buried offshore treasure, and make it an important element of their deficit deal.

Pointing to the thousands of U.S.-based companies incorporated in the Cayman Islands alone, Mr. Conrad said, “The Democrats on the Budget Committee said: We have had it. We are going after those people. We are going to insist they pay their fair share just as the vast majority of Americans already do.”

The more money Congress raises from tax-haven accounts, the less money it will have to raise by curbing tax breaks for ordinary taxpayers, said Mr. Conrad.

more...

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/07/12/allure-of-the-islands-revenue-from-tax-havens/

[closeupready]

1. The United States itself is a huge offshore tax haven. So

it's kind of ironic that he's complaining about the practice.