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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 106 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 145 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1999 No. 80 House of Representatives The House met at 9 a.m. and was our tax system more fair and just, I am who dutifully file our returns on April called to order by the Speaker pro tem- introducing the Abusive Tax Shelter 15 and who have to make up for the pore (Mr. GIBBONS). Shutdown Act of 1999. taxes that the big boys dodge. f Forbes Magazine, which proudly pro- My legislation will curtail egregious claims itself ``The Capitalist Tool,'' re- behavior without impacting legitimate DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO cently reported on, as the cover of the business deals. It will eliminate the TEMPORE magazine says, what are called ``Tax well-justified feeling that these high The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- Shelter Hustlers: Respectable account- rollers are cheating and gaming the fore the House the following commu- ants are peddling dicey corporate tax system, a feeling which leads to dis- nication from the Speaker: loopholes.'' Here on the cover, we see trust and disrespect on behalf of our the fellow with the fedora standing in taxpaying public. WASHINGTON, DC, the shadows. Unlike those supermarket June 8, 1999. This bill seeks to shut down abusive I hereby appoint the Honorable JIM GIB- tabloid stories about UFO abductions, tax shelters by prohibiting loss genera- BONS to act as Speaker pro tempore on this with this particular cover, the sub- tors. These are transactions that lack day. stance inside actually lives up to the any legitimate business purpose that J. DENNIS HASTERT, teaser on the cover. It is true that are ginned up just to obtain another Speaker of the House of Representatives. most abusive tax shelters are already tax loss, credit or deduction in order to f against the law. The problem is that dodge taxes. every time we shut down one, more The second thing the bill does is it MORNING HOUR DEBATES spring up. That is not by accident be- says that a company which thinks it The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- cause, as Forbes also reported, some of has a proper shelter will be required to ant to the order of the House of Janu- the Big 5 accounting firms actually provide complete, clear and concise ary 19, 1999, the Chair will now recog- have teams of staffers, and my guess is disclosure, verified by a corporate offi- that most of them dress a little better nize Members from lists submitted by cer. This does not make them forfeit than this fellow does, who are out the majority and minority leaders for their buried pirate treasure but on there and have as their job to come up morning hour debates. The Chair will these complex transactions it does re- with one new tax shelter every single alternate recognition between the par- quire them to give up the map where X ties, with each party limited to 25 min- week. Deploring what he calls the ``energy, marks the spot of the treasure. utes, and each Member, except the ma- These disclosure provisions were jority leader, the minority leader, or creativity and viciousness'' of these so- called ``shelter shops,'' Calvin Johnson, drafted based on the sound advice of the minority whip, limited to 5 min- a professor of tax law at the University tax practitioners; not the kind of prac- utes each, but in no event shall debate of Texas, has labeled these hustling op- titioner that is proud to define their continue beyond 9:50 a.m. erations ``skunk works'' because of the success by having another loophole The Chair recognizes the gentleman sorry odor surrounding their fouling of named after them, but the thoughtful from Texas (Mr. DOGGETT) for 5 min- our tax system. The literal hustling of commentary of the tax section of the utes. improper tax shelters is so common- American Bar Association. f place that one representative of a The third provision is directed to the Texas-based multinational corporation penalty for tax dodging, and we tighten THE ABUSIVE TAX SHELTER and increase the penalty for such tax SHUTDOWN ACT OF 1999 has recently indicated that he gets a cold call every day from someone dodging. Just getting some thick car- Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, long hawking or hustling one of these shel- pet, downtown lawyer to bless what the ago, Will Rogers suggested that, ``peo- ters. accounting department has contrived ple want just taxes even more than Some are even called black box pro- with the help of these tax shelter they want lower taxes. They want to posals. They are kept under wraps and hustlers is no longer going to be suffi- know that every man is paying his pro- they are not offered to any but a select cient to save a corporation from pen- portionate share according to his few so as to avoid public notoriety. As alties if it has clearly stepped over the wealth.'' a partner at one national firm boasted, line with an abusive tax shelter. Today, some of our worst tax inequi- ``A whale cannot get harpooned unless These abusive tax shelters have ties arise from those who use abusive it surfaces for air.'' grown and have become so extensive tax shelters to exploit loopholes in the What a whale-sized gulp of arrogance that some experts estimate that they Tax Code. To stop these, and to make toward honest taxpayers everywhere account for $10 billion a year in lost b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H3767 . H3768 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð HOUSE June 8, 1999 tax revenue. Typical is a recent ad sell- Opening,'' which begins with these press Turkey to enter into negotiations ing a guide to offshore tax shelters words: ``Turkey may have a once in a to achieve a political solution to this that ran in the Wall Street Journal. generation opening to treat its na- tragic struggle. Featuring a happy, smiling, bikini-clad tional cancer, the problem of its ag- Mr. Ocalan and his Kurdish organiza- couple, sipping cocktails on the beach, grieved Turkish minority.'' tion have offered an olive branch to the obviously enjoying the good life at The editorial in the Post, a paper Turkish government. It would be both someone else's expense, the ad prom- that has previously shown sympathy to the decent and the smart thing to do ised, ``Live simply and easily make a the Turkish point of view on a number for Turkey to accept this good faith tax-free fortune using the world's most of issues, notes that the Turkish policy offer and to embark on the path of exotic places,'' and you can do all this, of relentless military and political at- peace. it claimed, ``in complete privacy and tack on the Kurdish movement dooms In fact, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Ocalan made sev- full protection from everyone, includ- Turkey to a conflict that sets it at eral previous cease-fire offers prior to his ar- ing your spouse, competitors, partners odds with the human Democratic val- restÐall of which were summarily rejected by and more.'' ues of the western nations whose com- the Turkish government and military officials. Such schemes suggest the challenge pany it most values. An article in Sunday's New York Times fur- that we face. Surely if locally owned That is the bind, Mr. Speaker, that ther describes the hardening of official atti- businesses in central Texas can play by Turkey has put itself into. Turkey is a tudes in Turkey. According to the article, the the rules, the big boys should, too. The member of NATO and has sought mem- Turkish Interior Ministry has issued a directive Abusive Tax Shelter Shutdown Act is bership in the European Union, so far listing terms that must be used when dis- not a panacea but it will help law en- unsuccessfully. At the same time, Tur- cussing Mr. Ocalan, his movement or Kurds in forcement close some loopholes, elimi- key continues not only to wage a dirty general. The rules are binding on all reporters nate the sham transactions and stop war against a minority community for state-run news agencies. It represents an- the hustlers. within its borders but to repress and other example of the ongoing pattern of incit- As we say in Texas, move 'em out and essentially deny the existence of a dis- ing nationalistic fear and distrust of the PKK, shut 'em down. tinct Kurdish identity, language or cul- while trying to blind the Turkish people to the f ture. Kurds, their history, their culture and the valid- TURKEY MUST ACCEPT KURDISH In the meantime, Turkey's economic ity of their struggle. PEACE OFFER development, levels of education, infra- Mr. Speaker, the Turkish regime refuses to structure, development and standard of The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under even acknowledge the Kurds' existence, refer- living, lag far behind European stand- the Speaker's announced policy of Jan- ring to them as ``mountain Turks,'' prohibiting ards while scarce resources are squan- uary 19, 1999, the gentleman from New all expression of Kurdish culture and language dered on its ongoing war against the Jersey (Mr. PALLONE) is recognized in an effort to forcibly assimilate them, while Kurds. It is a cycle that must be bro- during morning hour debates for 5 min- jailing, torturing and killing Kurdish leaders.

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