Van Hollen, Pettersen Lead Lawmakers in Introducing Legislation to Bring Transparency to Corporate Abuse of Tax Havens, Job Offshoring

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and U.S. Representative Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.-07) led their colleagues in reintroducing the Disclosure of Tax Havens and Offshoring Act, legislation to provide transparency around corporations' use of tax havens and incentives to offshore jobs. This bill would require public companies to disclose their financial reporting on a country-by-country basis. Ensuring public access to this information would both provide investors the tools they need to understand the tax structures and risks of the businesses in which they invest and give Americans insight into the extent to which the tax system is incentivizing the outsourcing of American jobs or enabling corporations to dodge U.S. taxes. Senator Van Hollen and Representative Pettersen were joined in introducing this legislation by U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and U.S. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).

"While working Americans struggle to get by, large corporations continue to ship jobs overseas and take advantage of tax loopholes to hide their profits. This bill will provide critical transparency to both the American public and investors as to how these corporations abuse our broken tax system and the risks they are taking in the use of offshore tax havens. We must stand up for American workers, end incentives for big corporations to offshore jobs, and unrig our broken corporate tax code. Sunlight is the best disinfectant - shining a light on this issue is the first step," said Senator Van Hollen.

"As everyday families struggle to find jobs and pay for basic necessities, corporations are dodging taxes by shifting profits outside the country and making the rest of us pay. I'm proud to support this legislation that will require companies to disclose foreign operations, and ensure corporations pay into the system here at home," said Congresswoman Pettersen. "The Disclosure of Tax Havens and Offshoring Act will increase transparency, and make corporations start paying their fair share."

"For too long, many of the world's most profitable corporations have taken advantage of foreign tax havens to skirt paying their fair share here in the U.S. And it only became easier when Republicans passed their tax plan, which was chockfull of new incentives for corporations to ship profits and jobs overseas," said Senator Durbin. "We cannot let this go unnoticed. With the Disclosure of Tax Havens and Offshoring Act, we can finally hold these corporations accountable."

"It's wrong that corporations can use their wealth to secretly exploit foreign tax havens while everyday Americans contribute their fair share," said Senator Whitehouse. "This common-sense legislation would shine a light on the murky world of offshore tax dodging to hold corporations accountable and provide important information to investors."

"While hardworking American families are paying their fair share, many of the world's most profitable corporations abuse tax havens to avoid paying the taxes they owe," said Senator Blumenthal. "This critical legislation ensures necessary transparency for consumers and investors about how corporations are taking advantage of our country's broken tax system and sending their jobs overseas. The Disclosure of Tax Havens and Offshoring Act makes it easier to hold corporations accountable for tax avoidance."

"Big companies know how to scheme our tax system and hide their profits - all while hard-working families are playing by the rules and paying their fair share. It's a sham. We need to right this ship, and it starts with some basic transparency so Americans can see exactly how these wealthy companies are abusing our tax system and shipping their profits and American jobs overseas," said Senator Baldwin.

"Corporations have long abused offshore loopholes to avoid paying their fair share in taxes and move their profits overseas-and jobs along with it," said Senator Duckworth. "Consumers deserve to know if the companies they're buying from are outsourcing American jobs to other countries and dodging American taxes. It's long past time that we pass our commonsense legislation to help deliver transparency and hold these corporations accountable."

"Americans should not have to pay while corporations exploit tax loopholes to avoid paying their fair share," said Senator Smith. "President Trump has made it easier than ever for big corporations to get away with dodging U.S. taxes through foreign tax havens, and American are forced to foot the bill as more jobs and investment move overseas. This bill would hold corporations accountable by requiring them to publicly report tax information on their foreign activities and reveal the extent of their offshore tax avoidance."

"Our tax law in the United States is totally broken-we have a system where corporations are incentivized to ship profits and good-paying jobs overseas. The American people deserve full transparency about how companies are using these loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. We're working to ensure that corporations are held accountable for hiding profits in foreign tax havens," said Senator Welch.

While the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act established a new global tax framework, it also introduced incentives for large U.S. companies to shift profits and jobs overseas. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act largely preserved those incentives. New research shows that in 2025, large corporations reduced their tax liability by more than $11 billion through the use of tax havens. Firms continue to benefit from shifting profits because they can pool income and foreign taxes across affiliates in both high- and low-tax countries, while foreign income remains subject to a significantly lower U.S. tax rate than domestic income.

The Disclosure of Tax Havens and Offshoring Act would ensure there is more transparency in these tax practices by requiring large corporations to disclose basic information on each of their subsidiaries, and country-by-country financial information that sums together all of their subsidiaries in each country - including profits, taxes, employees, and tangible assets.

All of this information is already reported to the Internal Revenue Service, under an international Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development framework, but this legislation would ensure public disclosure to provide data on how international tax laws are working and where corporations are locating their business activities and taxes. Thus, when a corporation sends jobs overseas, their country-by-country financial report would show the extent to which the U.S. tax system is rewarding their behavior.

"Billionaires and large corporations continue to rake in record profits while exploiting tax loopholes to avoid paying their fair share in U.S. taxes," said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. "Many of these companies are moving jobs overseas to benefit their bottom line, while draining resources from the communities they leave behind. The Disclosure of Tax Havens and Offshoring Act would ensure long overdue transparency for these large corporations that are offshoring jobs and profits to avoid paying U.S. taxes. It is unacceptable that while working people pay our taxes, many of the most profitable corporations pay little or nothing in taxes. Corporate tax avoidance means less funding for the services people need to go to work-like health care, child care, and public transportation. We thank Sen. Van Hollen and his colleagues for introducing this legislation to shine a light on corporations who are moving jobs overseas to avoid taxes, and we urge Congress to act swiftly to pass it."

Robert Weissman, co-president, Public Citizen, said "Corporations mock their duty to pay taxes by pretending that that they earned their profits in tax haven countries, depriving the government of tax revenue for urgent priorities like healthcare, education and addressing the climate crisis -- and making suckers of those of us who do pay our taxes, fair and square. Sen. Van Hollen and Rep. Pettersen's Disclosure of Tax Havens and Offshoring Act would simply use the sunlight of disclosure to disinfect this dirty corporate practice. Every member should support this commonsense measure."

"We applaud Senator Van Hollen and Representative Pettersen for leading this vital legislation to pull back the curtain of tax secrecy and strengthen our tax system," said Zorka Milin, policy director at the FACT Coalition. "Recent accounting disclosures have provided fresh evidence of widespread tax haven use among the nation's largest and most profitable companies. Increased transparency is essential to creating a fairer corporate tax system that raises needed revenue and protects American manufacturing and jobs from offshoring."

"The Trump administration's regrettable choice to end cooperation with the OECD's global minimum tax makes it all the more important for the U.S. to require detailed tax disclosures. The Disclosure of Tax Havens and Offshoring Act would pull back the curtain on the rampant offshoring our most profitable corporations are currently engaged in," said Matthew Gardner, Senior Fellow, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

This legislation is supported by the Financial Accountability & Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition, Public Citizen, Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

A one-page summary of this bill is here. Text of the legislation is available here.