Carl Levin - United States Senator for Michigan: Issues - Responsible Tax Reform

Responsible Tax Reform

I support tax reform that ends unfair tax breaks that allow individuals and corporations to avoid paying the taxes they owe, increasing the tax burden on working families. I favor a progressive tax code that recognizes the burdens working families face.

I support an estate tax rate that is in keeping with the longstanding American value that wealth should be the product of merit, not the accident of birth. Attempts to end or sharply reduce estate tax rates contribute to deficits and violate basic principles of economic fairness. Estate tax reform should ensure that family farms and small businesses can be passed from generation to generation, and not have to be sold in order to pay taxes.

I support and will continue to fight for other reforms that end tax policies that unfairly advantage the wealthiest among us. I will fight for changes that end the double-standard in treatment of executive pay that comes in the form of stock options, pay that corporations are allowed to claim as expenses that reduce their tax payments, but are not required to report in their financial results. I support change in rules on “carried interest,” which now allow investment fund managers to pay lower tax rates on their income than their employees pay. And I will fight to end tax breaks that encourage U.S. companies to move their operations – and jobs – overseas.

Senator Levin’s Record on Responsible Tax Reform

Feb. 7, 2012 – Sens. Levin, Conrad introduce CUT Loopholes Act
Sen. Levin and Sen. Kent Conrad introduce the Cut Unjustified Tax Loopholes Act, which would close a number of tax loopholes that increase the deficit and the tax burden carried by middle-class Americans by allowing individuals and corporations to dodge the taxes they owe.
March 8, 2012 – Levin-Conrad amendment cracks down on offshore tax loopholes
The Senate adopts an amendment offered by Sen. Levin, Sen. Kent Conrad and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse that adds important new tools to the fight against offshore tax abuses that increase the budget deficit and disadvantage middle-class taxpayers.
Feb. 29, 2012 – Levin speaks out against ‘Facebook loophole’
In a speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Levin outlines how Facebook will avoid billions of dollars in corporate taxes using a loophole related to the granting of stock options to employees. Levin has long sought the closing of this stock-option loophole to reduce the budget deficit.
Jan. 26, 2012 – Levin criticizes IRS role in boosting commodities speculators
At a Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing, Sen. Levin outlines how the IRS, through a series of private rulings, has allowed mutual funds to skirt legal limits on commodities trading and contributed to the market speculation that increases prices for oil and other commodities.