Owens accuses Doheny of tax avoidance
Congressman Owens News Release
PLATTSBURGH – If anyone was wondering why Matt Doheny loves loopholes in the tax code, we have an answer: it’s because he got rich while his company used loopholes to avoid taxes in the Cayman Islands, an off shore tax haven.
Doheny’s record as a “businessman” has come to be defined by layoffs, utility rate hikes for consumers, millions of dollars in bonuses for executives, and now the use of an offshore tax haven to avoid paying US taxes. And while Doheny and his friends on Wall Street have been doing just fine over the past few years, New Yorkers who play by the rules pay $8.4 billion more in taxes to cover for Doheny and his friends.
“While I believe our small businesses deserve targeted tax credits that will motivate them to create jobs and put our communities back to work, Matt Doheny has other ideas. Matt Doheny is only looking out for himself and his friends on Wall Street who are raking in million dollar bonuses and avoiding taxes with offshore loopholes, all while the middle class in Upstate New York continues to struggle,” said Bill Owens. “Matt Doheny and his friends on Wall Street are costing tax payers $8.4 billion so they can abuse off shore tax havens, and that’s exactly what Upstate New York can’t afford right now.”
Matt Doheny’s disturbing record was further exposed in Owens’ latest campaign advertisement, which can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpryfdiZmDA.
BACKGROUND:
Doheny’s company, Fintech, was registered in the Cayman Islands, a known offshore tax haven. According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Doheny’s company owned 36 million shares in Countrywide Financial during the time of merger discussions with Bank of America. Doheny’s company had an offshore subsidiary registered in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands own the shares. But the shares were controlled by a branch of Doheny’s company registered in Delaware. Doheny is the Portfolio Manager for US transactions. The British Virgin Islands has no corporate tax, no capital gains taxes, and companies are only subject to a tiny annual fee. The country also has very few reporting and disclosure requirements. 400,000 corporations share a few addresses in the tiny British Virgin Islands. [Doheny website <http://www.dohenyforcongress.com/biography> ; Henley and Partners, BVI <http://www.henleyglobal.com/countries/british-virgin-islands/> ; Associated Press, 4/3/09; Securities and Exchange Commission,6/27/08 <http://www.secinfo.com/dRY7g.tgz.htm> ; 44th Street Notes, October 2008 <http://www.abcny.org/email/44StreetNotes/10_08.pdf> ; Fortuna, 10/9/06; BWN Patagonia Newspaper, 1/9/07; RFDD Website]
New Yorkers are paying $8.4 Billion a year to make up for offshore tax haven abuse. Offshore tax havens cost America up to $100 billion a year. According to the US Public Interest Research Group, New York taxpayers are forced to pay $8.43 billion a year more in taxes to make up for the of use of offshore tax havens. [United States Public Interest Research Group, April 2009 <https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.publicinterestnetwork.org%2Fassets%2F1JpX8jvsPAW7OKjq4p5diQ%2FUSP-taxshellgamefinal-updateFall09.pdf> ]
Posted: October 22nd, 2010 under Congressional News.