por Christin Brown | 4 de marzo de 2015 | Comunicados de prensa
HARRISBURG, 4 de marzo de 2015 - La senadora estatal Christine M. Tartaglione ha aplaudido hoy al gobernador Tom Wolf por su audaz y prometedora propuesta de presupuesto para 2015-2016.
Dijo que su voluntad de impulsar un salario mínimo más alto, su creencia en la financiación adecuada de la educación, su apoyo a su idea de cerrar la laguna de Delaware, y las ideas para ayudar a aliviar la carga fiscal de los habitantes de Filadelfia son bienvenidos, los esfuerzos atrasados.
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"Durante cuatro años, el republicano en la oficina del gobernador dijo que no podía permitirse invertir nuevos dólares en educación, que no podía apoyar a las personas que necesitan ayuda del gobierno y que no podía permitirse pedir a las empresas que paguen a sus trabajadores de salario mínimo más de 7,25 dólares la hora", dijo Tartaglione. "Pero pudo permitirse proteger a la industria del gas natural y a los socios corporativos, y Pensilvania ha sufrido por ello".
La senadora Tartaglione dijo que se alegra de que el gobernador reitere su apoyo a un salario mínimo de 10,10 dólares la hora, así como a futuros aumentos del salario mínimo vinculados a un índice del coste de la vida.
Tartaglione ha propuesto el proyecto de ley 195 del Senado para aumentar el salario mínimo a 10,10 dólares el 1 de enero de 2016. El proyecto de ley 196 fijaría el salario mínimo por propina en el 70% del salario base regular por hora.
Según un estudio reciente del Keystone Research Center, un aumento a 10,10 dólares beneficiaría más a los asalariados por hora de base que proyectos de ley similares que aumentaran el mínimo mucho menos (1,27 millones de habitantes de Pensilvania frente a 404.000). También afirma que un aumento a 10,10 dólares generaría 6.000 nuevos puestos de trabajo, o casi nueve veces más que un aumento a 8,75 dólares.
Actualmente, un progenitor con un salario mínimo a tiempo completo y dos hijos está por debajo del umbral federal de pobreza.
La demócrata de Filadelfia dijo que también está satisfecha con el llamamiento del gobernador para restaurar los 1.000 millones de dólares que la administración Corbett quitó a la educación básica y superior, y su llamamiento para cerrar finalmente la laguna de Delaware.
La laguna jurídica de Delaware ofrece a las empresas de Pensilvania la oportunidad de constituirse en Delaware para evitar pagar el impuesto de sociedades de Pensilvania. El proyecto de ley 274 de Tartaglione cerraría la laguna de Delaware. Está a la espera de la acción en el Comité de Finanzas del Senado.
El 70% de las corporaciones que operan en la mancomunidad no pagan impuestos debido a la laguna legal, dijo Tartaglione. The New York Times informó de que Delaware recaudó en 2011 860 millones de dólares de corporaciones ausentes que operan en otros estados norteamericanos, entre ellos Pensilvania.
Si se acepta la idea del gobernador, el cierre de la laguna ayudaría a la mancomunidad a reducir el tipo neto del impuesto de sociedades en un 40% el 1 de enero y en un 50% en los tres años siguientes.
"La idea del gobernador Wolf de recortar el CNI del 9,99 por ciento al 5,99 por ciento compensará con creces el dinero que las corporaciones están evitando al organizarse formalmente en un pequeño apartado de correos en Delaware", dijo Tartaglione.
El senador dijo que los ciudadanos de Pensilvania deben aceptar la primera propuesta de presupuesto del gobernador como un cambio significativo - y necesario - en la forma en que la mancomunidad gobierna y paga por el gobierno.
"Un mal planteamiento y un liderazgo insuficiente nos han llevado a la lamentable situación financiera en la que nos encontramos", afirmó. "No podemos aceptar el mismo planteamiento a la hora de encontrar una salida. Debemos trabajar en el presupuesto Wolf y asegurarnos de que se convierte en ley antes del 30 de junio.
"Sin embargo, promete ser una dura batalla, ya que los republicanos, que son mayoría en la Cámara de Representantes y el Senado, ya están manifestando su oposición", dijo Tartaglione.
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by Christin Brown | Diciembre 5, 2012 | News Releases
HARRISBURG, Dec. 5, 2012 – State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione is asking Corbett administration officials why an international gambling company created a Delaware corporation to submit its bid to take over the Pennsylvania Lottery.
According to Delaware’s Department of State, Camelot Global Services PA LLC was created Nov. 13 with its headquarters located at 1209 North Orange St. in Wilmington, the same address as thousands of other large companies.
In a letter to Revenue Secretary Dan Meuser, Tartaglione expressed concern that, like many others, the Delaware entity created by Camelot could be a “shell” company used as part of a tax strategy.
“More than a year ago, in response to questions about the notorious Delaware Loophole, you assured my colleagues and I that the Department of Revenue was doing everything it could to ensure that companies doing business in Pennsylvania are paying their fair share of taxes,” Tartaglione wrote. “The building at 1209 N. Orange Street in Wilmington is home to more than 6,500 companies, yet has only has 35 parking spaces.”
Tartaglione has been the legislature’s chief proponent of closing the “Delaware Loophole,” a tax avoidance strategy uncovered by several state lawsuits against large corporations. The loophole has proven so expansive that the governments of Switzerland and Luxembourg – both targets of U.S. tax scrutiny – have complained.
Tartaglione is the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 679, which would require “combined reporting” for businesses in Pennsylvania, closing the loophole.
In her letter to Meuser, Tartaglione said she was seeking the answers to three questions as the administration goes over Camelot’s proposal:
- Why did Camelot Global Services create a new Delaware subsidiary to submit its bid for Pennsylvania’s lottery system?
- What is the department’s estimate of the corporate taxes that will be paid by Camelot Global Services PA LLC?
- How many people are currently employed by Camelot Global Services PA LLC and how many of them work in the corporate headquarters at 1209 N. Orange St., Wilmington, Delaware?
by Christin Brown | Abril 3, 2012 | News Releases
HARRISBURG, Abril 3, 2012 – State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione joined Senate Democratic colleagues at a Capitol news conference today calling on the Corbett administration to focus budget priorities on jobs and working families.
“Last year’s budget and this year’s proposal put a heavy burden on Pennsylvania’s vulnerable families while large corporations reap the rewards of their political support,” Tartaglione said. “The governor’s priorities have resulted in stagnant employment, spiking property taxes and insolvent school districts. There is still time to shift direction.”
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Tartaglione is the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 679, which would require “combined reporting” for businesses in Pennsylvania and close the “Delaware Loophole.”
“Working families and small businesses are paying the price for the administration’s hands-off approach to corporate taxes,” Tartaglione said.
In addition to combined reporting, Senate Democrats have identified numerous ways the state could raise additional revenue to invest in infrastructure, schools and job creation.
Tartaglione said Senate Democrats would like to add at least $250 million into Accountability Block Grants and higher education along with another $225 million in job creation strategies that include research and development. Senate Democrats are renewing their call to refocus unused cash in the Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA) for job creation.
by Christin Brown | Mayo 2, 2011 | News Releases
Delaware Loophole – Background
Delaware has no corporate tax on income from “non-tangible assets,” such as leases, trademarks, royalties and copyrights.
Large corporations form Delaware subsidiaries and transfer ownership of such assets, then makes steep payments for the use of the assets, making them deductible expenses in Pennsylvania.
The toy store ToysRUs owns a Delaware company called Geoffrey Inc. that collects royalties from local stores for using its giraffe logo.
Most of the Delaware subsidiaries have no employees, and simply exist to collect revenue and redistribute it.
On building at 1209 N. Orange St. in Wilmington, is headquarters for 6,500 registered companies but has only 35 parking spaces.
More than 700 corporations are headquartered in five floors of a downtown Wilmington high rise.
WalMart and Home Depot have real estate investment trusts in Delaware that collect lease payments from local stores.
Delaware’s corporate registry skyrocketed in the early 1990s when corporate accountants began to catch on to using the loophole, peaking two years ago when the state registered 121,000 new corporations – or one per minute of the business day.
With a population one-twelfth the size of Pennsylvania’s, Delaware collects half as much corporate tax revenue, simply from the small fee to register corporations.
Nearly three quarters of Pennsylvania corporations pay no income tax.
Pennsylvania’s revenue department estimated several years ago that combined reporting could bring more than $400 million in tax revenue back to the state.
That loss of revenue contributes to Pennsylvania having the highest corporate net income tax in the nation, an unfair burden to businesses that don’t use Delaware subsidiaries.
The Marcellus Shale/Delaware Boom
According to the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, only 15 percent of 783 Marcellus exploration companies paid Corporate Net Income taxes in 2008.
A significantly larger number of drillers — including nine of the top 10 permit holders in the Marcellus Shale — structure their businesses as limited liability companies (LLCs) or limited partnerships (LPs). This allows them to avoid the corporate net income tax altogether and pay the much lower personal income tax on company profits.
Using the Delaware Division of Corporations on-line database, the Communications and Issues Development Office has identified more than 400 Delaware subsidiaries linked to Marcellus Shale gas exploration.
Nearly half of these companies have been incorporated in the past four years when gas exploration in Pennsylvania began to take off.
According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, there are numerous ways that the Delaware subsidiaries can be used to shift income to tax-free companies in Delaware. They include:
- Royalty payments
- Technology and formula trademarks
- Land leases
Nearly every company drilling, processing or transporting gas in Pennsylvania has at least one, and usually several, Delaware subsidiaries.
One of the largest, Anadarko, has 89 corporations registered in Delaware.
The entities found through the database search represent only companies that can be identified as having the same name as the parent. Perhaps hundreds more exist through other entities, partnerships, mergers and investments.
It is also plausible that the mystery surrounding the actual ingredients and ratios of the fracking fluid are due to corporate trademarks on the formula that are the property of Delaware passive investment companies.
The Pipeline: Examples
Blowout sends frack fluid, stock price soaring — On the day after (Abril 20) the blowout of a Chesapeake Energy gas well in Bradford County, Reuters reported a multi-national buyout of Frac Tech a fracking company owned partially (25 percent) by Chesapeake. The reported deal would pay Chesapeake cash and increase its stake in Frac Tech to 30 percent. Despite the blown-out well, Chesapeake stock rose nearly 3 percent that day. Nine days earlier, on Abril 11, a new company appeared at 1209 N. Orange Street in Wilmington – Frac Tech International LLC. It joined siblings Frac Tech Services (9/29/10) and Frac Tech Horizons (12/29/06) at that location.
A birth in the family – In Enero of 2009, MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. and NGP Midstream & Resources, L.P., announced the formation of a new company to build a gas processing plant in Southwestern Pa. The first work was done in Delaware, where the new venture — MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources, LLC – was incorporated at 1209 N. Orange St. on Jan. 20. 2009. Four months later, the facility opened in Washington County, PA. MarkWest has 17 entities registered in Delaware; NGP has as many as 100.
Too much paperwork — While the drilling companies have been aggressive at keeping up with the paperwork for hundreds of corporate subsidiaries, they have not been so productive with state regulators.
In 2010, 41 of 74 companies missed the Agosto 15 deadline for filing production reports with the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Two of those companies was Carrizo (Marcellus) LLC and Carrizo Oil and Gas, according to DEP. Carizzo was busy giving birth to a new Delaware subsidiary (Carrizo Marcellus WV LLC) on Agosto 18, 2010. Nine days after the deadline, Carrizo still had not filed its production report in Pennsylvania.
It’s the same story for Atlas Resources which skipped the DEP deadline, but filed a new subsidiary in Delaware, Atlas Resources Series 29-2010 LP, on Agosto 17, according to the Delaware Division of Corporations.
EXCO Holding PA Inc. is registered in Delaware….Penn Virginia has 14 Delaware entities, all at 1209 N. Orange St…..PVR Radnor is not in Radnor. It’s in Delaware at 1209 N. Orange, but so is PVR North Texas and PVR Lexington and PVR Savannah….Range Resources is perhaps the granddaddy of them all, having been registered in Delaware for more than 30 years, but there have been lots of new kids on the block at 2711 Centerville Road.
Taking Action
Sen. Tartaglione is asking the Department of Revenue to audit the general activity of companies listed on the latest Department of Environmental Protection Marcellus Production Report as they relate to expenses charged to Delaware corporations.
In the fall of 2010, there were 74 companies listed on the report.
In a letter to acting Secretary of Revenue Dan Meuser, senators will seek a report on corporate net income taxes paid for 2010 by these companies, including:
- Total deductions taken for expenses to out of state companies
- Total deductions taken for expenses to Delaware companies
- A good-faith estimate of revenue that could be recovered by requiring combined reporting
Sen. Tartaglione is calling for immediate consideration of Senate Bill 679, requiring “combined reporting” to close the loophole.
Five years ago only 16 states, representing 29 percent of the U.S. economy used combined reporting. Now 23 states have adopted the practice – representing nearly two-thirds of of the economy.
Combined reporting would add little to corporate accounting because three quarters of companies that would be affected already do business in states that require combined reporting.
Between 1990 and 2007, of the eight states that saw manufacturing job gains, seven required combined reporting.
Most of the large corporations that would be affected by reform in Pennsylvania maintain facilities and workers in numerous combined-reporting states year-in and year-out.
