2014 – Edward D. Kleinbard

Press: 2014

Los Angeles Times (December 25, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about how Congress can address income inequality. “I recommend capping the standard and itemized deductions to eliminate the advantages enjoyed by wealthier taxpayers through such breaks as the mortgage interest deduction,” he said.

Newsweek (December 3, 2014)

We Are Better Than This was named one of “Our Favorite Books of 2014” by the staff of Newsweek Magazine: “This masterpiece on how we tax ourselves, and how Congress spends our money, explains why the mostly lightly taxed modern country feels so heavily burdened while offering workable solutions.”

Los Angeles Times (November 29, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the limitations of new economic calculations that could affect the national budget. Predicting the future path of the economy is “like trying to map out the mating dance of butterflies along the side of a highway,” Kleinbard said. “Just when you think you’ve seen an interesting pattern, a tractor-trailer goes by and blows the butterflies away.”

Australian Associated Press (November 28, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the tax benefits of corporate “inversion” deals. Kleinbard said that hoarded foreign profits drive the recent push for so-called inversions, because in these deals, companies keep most operations in the U.S. but move their legal residences to low-tax foreign countries.

The Washington Monthly (November 4, 2014)

The Washington Monthly reviewed Edward Kleinbard’s book “We Are Better Than This: How Government Should Spend Our Money.” The review concludes that “though Kleinbard acknowledges the need for reform of the taxation of capital income, his rigorous and thoughtful analysis of alternatives should frustrate both conservatives and liberals searching for a sound-bite solution.

CBS News’ “Money Watch” (November 4, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was cited about America’s corporate tax rates.

Minneapolis Star-Tribune (November 1, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about foreign profits driving corporate America’s push for tax inversions. “Hoarded foreign profits are driving corporate America’s recent push for so-called inversions. In such deals, companies move their legal residences to low-tax foreign countries while keeping most operations in the United States,” he said.

Bloomberg TV (October 31, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was interviewed about how a revenue shortfall will impact the narrowing of the U.S. deficit. “We don’t have the revenue to support the government base we have today,” he said.

Bloomberg TV (October 29, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard’s book “We Are Better Than This,” was featured. Kleinbard discussed income inequality in the U.S. “Our largest asset class is ourselves – investing in ourselves as human beings,” Kleinbard said. “That’s where inequality really ends up being a gene that’s passed on, because the rich can do so much more to invest in their kids.” Bloomberg TV ran another interview with Kleinbard on how lower gas prices affect the middle-class. NPR News’ “The Diane Rehm Show” interviewed Kleinbard about income inequality.

Los Angeles Times (October 25, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was cited about a progressive tax system in the United States.

Fortune (October 24, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about American companies being required to pay income tax on interest and dividends on offshore cash. “American companies are required to pay U.S. income tax on interest and dividends earned on their offshore cash, regardless of whether that income is repatriated to the U.S,,” he said.

The Wall Street Journal (October 23, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about new regulations that could make U.S. companies easier targets for international takeovers. “Non-inverted companies may now be more vulnerable to foreign acquirers, particularly because they have unresolved tax issues,” he said.

Los Angeles Times (October 18, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard and his new book, “We Are Better Than This” were featured. Kleinbard’s perspective was called “moral and farsighted.” The story cited a New York Times op-ed by Kleinbard asserting that the U.S. needs to spend its revenue more progressively rather than focus on collecting taxes more progressively. “Fiscal policy is an exercise in applied moral philosophy as well as economics,” Kleinbard said.

Forbes (October 15, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was cited about Ireland doing away with its “Double Irish” tax structure for multinational corporations. “In the long term, what’s most important to Ireland is to preserve its low corporate tax rate — not reduce a firm’s tax burden even further,” Kleinbard said.

The New York Times (October 10, 2014)

An op-ed by Edward Kleinbard ran about how to create an American fiscal system that addresses growing income inequality. While many academics advocate for a raising top marginal income tax as a solution, that’s only half of the equation, Kleinbard wrote. The other half is how tax monies are spent: “The better response to income disparity is not to tax the rich more, but to boost revenue over all so that government can invest more, and offer higher quality social insurance programs.” Harvard Business Review commented on Kleinbard’s op-ed. The Washington Post ran a review of Kleinbard’s book, “We Are Better Than This,” which is “packed with powerful data, fresh insights, unassailable analysis, and a set of recommendations that are both economically and politically viable.”

The Huffington Post (October 9, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard’s new book, “We Are Better Than This: How Government Should Spend Our Money,” was reviewed by Jared Bernstein, former Obama administration economist and CNBC and MSNBC contributor. In his review, Bernstein writes: “This book will not only help you separate the sense from the nonsense in America’s fiscal debate. Far more importantly, it will remind you why we need a functional federal government and the extremely high costs in terms of our economic well-being, today and tomorrow, of its absence… Kleinbard describes himself as a “Dutch uncle” which the dictionary tells me is someone who admonishes sternly and bluntly… tells us the hard truths whether we want to hear them or not. But he’s actually considerably friendlier than that, and while the book is dense with subject matter that ranges from the national income accounting system to the precise definition of capital income in the tax code, he works hard to make it all reader friendly.”

The Wall Street Journal (October 9, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about a tax dispute between Google and France which could have repercussions for multinationals operating in other European countries.

The Wall Street Journal (October 8, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about a tax dispute between Google and France which could have repercussions for multinationals operating in other European countries.

The New York Times (September 30, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted in an editorial about the European Commission public accusing Ireland of giving illegal subsidies to Apple. Kleinbard likens Ireland’s favorable tax treatment of Apple to the tax breaks that American states and cities often give to businesses that promise to create jobs.

The New York Times (September 30, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted in a story about Europeans accusing Ireland of giving an illegal tax break to Apple. “The light bulb has gone off that trade wars by another name and conducted through the tax system are just as ruinous,” Kleinbard said.

Bloomberg News (September 30, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the European Commission’s crackdown on Ireland and Apple over tax avoidance. “I think there is real reform underway. European jurisdictions in particular have woken up to the fact that multinational firms are systematically underreporting their tax liabilities in the jurisdictions where they actually do business,” Kleinbard said.

San Francisco Chronicle (September 28, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about corporate tax avoidance strategies known as inversions. “In ; versions are economically rational deals as reimagined by Lewis Carroll’s Humpty Dumpty,” Kleinbard said.

Salon (September 25, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard’s recent paper about corporate tax strategies was cited.

The New York Times (September 25, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard’s book, “We Are Better Than This: How Government Should Spend Our Money,” and his scholarship were featured in a story about corporate tax avoidance strategies. “U.S. multinational firms have established themselves as world leaders in global tax avoidance strategies,” Kleinbard said.

International Business Times (September 24, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about Microsoft buying foreign companies for tax purposes. “They’re hoisted on their own petard,” he said.

The Washington Post (September 23, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about new rules enacted by the Obama Administration to limit corporate tax inversions. “The new rules are very bold and far-reaching and likely to affect many transactions that are motivated by gaining access to offshore cash” he said.

USA Today (September 23, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the tax impact of inversions to shareholders. “The market as a whole seems to be less sensitive to shareholder-level tax than one might expect,” he said.

Washington Examiner (September 16, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the role corporate tax inversions play in boosting stock prices. In other words, inversions are about boosting stock prices and have nothing to do with actual business operations or competing internationally. On the other hand, higher stock prices raise the capitalization of a company, which allows it, for example, to borrow more to invest in growth,” he said.

Chicago Business (September 15, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the tax benefits American companies enjoy through corporate tax inversions. “As any sophisticated corporation knows, various tax loopholes keep that nominal rate nominal. One of the biggest is the practice of keeping much of their income overseas and out of reach of the IRS. Altogether, American corporations paid an effective tax rate of 12.6 percent in 2010, the last year for which figures are available,” he said.

The New York Times (September 15, 2014)

The publication cited Edward Kleinbard’s work was on tax benefits American companies enjoy through corporate tax inversions. Politico, Hearst Newspapers, Chicago Business, The Houston Chronicle and Connecticut Post also quoted Kleinbard about corporate tax inversions.

Hearst Newspapers (September 14, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was interviewed about the tax benefits American companies enjoy through corporate tax inversions. “Inversions are economically rational deals as reimagined by Lewis Carroll’s Humpty Dumpty,” he said.

The New York Times (September 14, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about corporate tax inversions. Inversions may make it much easier to reduce American corporate taxes, Kleinbard said in a recent report. He opposes inversions, saying they are stripping the United States of its tax base.

Houston Chronicle (September 14, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the battle on Capitol Hill over tax inversions. “Inversions are economically rational deals as reimagined by Lewis Carroll’s Humpty Dumpty,” said Kleinbard. Corporate claims of tax-rate victimization are “a false narrative,” Kleinbard wrote in a research paper called “‘Competitiveness’ Has Nothing to Do With It.”

Crain’s Chicago Business (September 10, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the nation’s corporate tax rate.

The New York Times (September 9, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about loopholes in the U.S. tax code that make corporate tax inversions irresistible for American companies to take advantage of. The argument that a disparity of our uncompetitive corporate tax rate versus their business-friendly rates is driving the investing mania is inaccurate. Kleinbard states it in a recent report, “Competitiveness’ has nothing to do with it.”

Politico (September 9, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about inversion strategies. “I think it would be an extraordinary change in Treasury’s understanding of its role,” said Kleinbard. “I do not believe that Treasury should act recklessly — it is not in the long-term interest of the Treasury as an institution.”

The New York Times (September 8, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about loopholes in the U.S. tax code that make corporate tax inversions irresistible for American companies to take advantage of. “It isn’t so much that the corporate tax code is too tough or the rate is too high; rather, he says, companies are taking advantage of loopholes in the code that make inversions almost irresistible for corporate executives,” he said.

The Guardian (September 6, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was cited about the tax benefits Apple enjoyed due to its large foreign cash reserve. “Apple and firms like it are hoist by their own petard. They have gigantic pools of cash that are the fruit of their tax-avoidance labor but they can’t enjoy it in the way they want because that is the deal. The way to look at the cash is not that it’s a problem but that it’s the result of the success US firms have had in generating stateless income,” he said.

The Guardian (September 6, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was cited about the tax benefits Apple enjoyed due to its large foreign cash reserve. “Apple and firms like it are hoist by their own petard. They have gigantic pools of cash that are the fruit of their tax-avoidance labour but they can’t enjoy it in the way they want because that is the deal. The way to look at the cash is not that it’s a problem but that it’s the result of the success US firms have had in generating stateless income.”

The Huffington Post (September 4, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard’s paper on America’s corporate tax burden, and how it’s not as onerous on American companies as they claim, was covered. Kleinbard contends that U.S. companies have an advantage over their foreign competitors because of their ability to navigate around the high corporate tax rates. He also acknowledges that the current tax code is “highly distortive and inefficient.”

Newsweek (September 4, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was interviewed in a Newsweek cover story on “corporate deadbeats.” Kleinbard, who was identified in the story as “for decades one of the savviest Wall Street tax lawyers,” explained how multinationals’ “stateless income” tax planning gives them an advantage over domestic firms.

San Antonio Business Journal (September 3, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the tax benefits Burger King will receive by moving its headquarters to Canada. He predicts that Burger King will almost certainly reduce its taxes because Canada’s corporate income tax system is simply less expensive for multinational companies.

Bloomberg Businessweek (September 3, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the tax benefits Burger King will receive by moving its headquarters to Canada. “If they don’t see any tax benefits going forward, they are probably not looking very hard,” Kleinbard said.

Politico (September 3, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the authority the U.S. Treasury has in reclassifying debt and equity. Kleinbard said Congress makes tax law and Treasury would be usurping its authority if it acts alone.

The New York Times (September 3, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the U.S. Treasury regulating corporate tax inversions. “That’s going to be a problem for any board of directors considering an inversion,” said Kleinbard.

Rolling Stone (August 27, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the untaxed “offshore” profits of American corporations, which are often banked in Manhattan and invested in stocks and U.S. Treasury bonds. “There’s this false notion that these funds are locked in a strongbox somewhere,” said Kleinbard. “The money is already back in the U.S. economy.”

Los Angeles Times (August 26, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was cited about corporate tax inversions, calling him the “author of the definitive analysis of inversions.” Kleinbard suggests that by ending a policy that “rewards tax perversity over commercial reality,” along with a few other alterations in tax law, would stop most inversions.

The New Yorker (August 26, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was interviewed about corporate tax inversions and Burger King’s acquisition of Canadian donut chain Tim Hortons. “The stateless income-tax planning of multinational firms, led by U.S. firms, world leaders in tax-avoidance technology, is out of control,” said Kleinbard.

The Washington Examiner (August 22, 2014)

A paper by Edward Kleinbard on America’s corporate tax burden, and how it’s not as onerous on American companies as they claim, was covered. Kleinbard argues that “the current mania for inversions is driven by U.S. firms’ increasingly desperate need to do something with their $1 trillion in offshore cash,” and that U.S. competitiveness has nothing to do with it.

The Wall Street Journal (August 21, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about Mark Mazur, the U.S. Treasury’s point man in deterring corporate tax inversions.

The Wall Street Journal (August 19, 2014)

Research by Edward Kleinbard on America’s corporate tax burden, and how it’s not as onerous on American companies as they claim. Mother Jones covered the paper, in which Kleinbard writes that, thanks to the “feast of tax planning opportunities laid out before them on the groaning board of corporate tax expenditures,” American companies pay tax rates comparable to those in France or Germany. The story was also covered by CBS News’ “MoneyWatch” and The Huffington Post.

The New York Times (August 18, 2014)

Research by Edward Kleinbard on America’s corporate tax burden, and how it’s not as onerous on American companies as they claim, was featured. Kleinbard said that while America’s official corporate tax rate is 35 percent, companies paid an average of 12.6 percent in 2010 by stashing cash abroad. Corporate tax inversions, he said, are driven by some $2 trillion in cash American companies have stored abroad that they don’t want to bring back to the United States. America’s tax system is “highly distortive and inefficient,” Kleinbard wrote.

The Washington Examiner (August 13, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was cited about the effect of corporate tax inversions. Kleinbard told the Washington Post last week that the JCT’s estimate “didn’t fully reflect the sharknado of inversions that is about to happen.”

The Hill (August 10, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the risks facing corporations leaving the U.S. for international tax shelters. “Firms need cordial relationships with their lawmakers across a wide range of issue. I would, frankly, worry more about my relationships with my lawmakers than I would public rage in the streets,” Kleinbard said.

The Huffington Post (August 8, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about corporate tax inversions. “Congress is in recess, and therefore there’s no visible movement on any legislative front,” Edward Kleinbard, a professor at the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California, told HuffPost. “There is a moral failing here — but the moral failing is the Congress of the United States failing to do right by its citizens by addressing what are obviously flaws in the [tax] statute.”

Politico (August 8, 2014)

A paper by Edward Kleinbard about the claim that the 35 percent corporate tax rate is driving U.S. companies to offshore tax shelters, was highlighted. “The recent surge in interest in inversion transactions is explained primarily by U.S. based multinational firms’ increasingly desperate efforts to find a use for their stockpiles of offshore cash (now totaling around $1 trillion),” Kleinbard wrote.

NPR News (August 7, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was interviewed about the increase in corporate tax inversions. “It’s a very attractive technique, and that’s the reason why one might expect exponential growth if left unchecked,” Kleinbard noted.

Bloomberg News (August 7, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about corporate tax inversions. He said that lawmakers should curb the “artificial” transactions immediately.

The Washington Post (August 6, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about an expected wave of corporate tax inversions that could severely affect the U.S. Treasury. “My guess is [the projected $20 billion in tax revenue loss] didn’t fully reflect the sharknado of inversions that is about to happen,” said Kleinbard.

Mother Jones (August 6, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard’s view that the potential tax revenue loss is higher than $20 billion was cited.

Buzzfeed (August 6, 2014)

A Wall Street Journal op-ed on the need to stop corporate tax inversions, by Edward Kleinbard, was cited. Because inversions make it cheap for companies to bring cash back into the U.S., they evade taxes, “goose their stock prices through dividends and buybacks funded by low-taxed foreign cash,” wrote Kleinbard.

Bloomberg News (August 5, 2014)

An excerpt from “We Are Better Than This: How Government Should Spend Our Money” by Edward Kleinbard was featured. Kleinbard wrote about income inequality being a very real and tangible force in America. “The buoyant middle class that inequality deniers purport to have discovered is a creature of a decades-long fiscal policy of borrowing against the future by delivering more transfer benefits than our current level of tax collections can support,” Kleinbard wrote.

The Washington Post’s “Wonkblog” (August 5, 2014)

An excerpt from “We Are Better Than This: How Government Should Spend Our Money” by Edward Kleinbard was highlighted. “Defenders of the status quo have no answer to why the U.S. is an outlier in the rate at which income inequality has grown,” Kleinbard wrote.

Bloomberg View (August 4, 2014)

An excerpt from “We Are Better Than This: How Government Should Spend Our Money,” by Edward Kleinbard, was featured. Kleinbard outlines how “rent seekers” have crafted loopholes in the tax code that benefit themselves at the ultimate expense of the country’s economy. “Americans simply do not have equal opportunities,” Kleinbard wrote. “This is more than an ethical or social issue: Underinvestment in human capital leads to lower productivity, which is to say, lower national income.”

NPR News’s “The Diane Rehm Show” (August 4, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was interviewed during a discussion about corporate tax inversions. “We know that they’re about lower tax rates. But the question is, in what sense is that true? And it turns out that inversions are largely driven by efforts to redeploy the huge stashes of offshore cash that U.S. firms now hold and to engage in a kind of a self-help to reduce U.S. tax burdens by stripping income out of the United States,” Kleinbard said.

Los Angeles Times (August 2, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the impact of corporate tax inversions. “There is a breach of moral obligation and fiduciary duty here,” Kleinbard said. “The moral failing is the refusal of Congress to do the most fundamental kind of loophole-closing.”

San Francisco Chronicle (July 28, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the impact of corporate tax inversions. Kleinbard said, “There is a rule that limits this, but it’s not a strict enough limit, you can strip lots and lots of income.”

MSNBC’s “Squawk Box” (July 24, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard’s Wall Street Journal op-ed about corporate tax inversions was cited. “There’s not going to be any corporate tax base to reform if everyone is able to move so we have to immediately pass something putative that disallows corporations to do it, which will give congress and the president another pass on actually doing tax reform,” Kleinbard is quoted saying.

The Wall Street Journal (July 22, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard published an oped about the need to stop tax inversions, a process where a large U.S. company acquires a smaller one in a tax-friendly country like Ireland or the U.K. But the way the deal is structured, “the foreign minnow swallows the domestic whale,” with the U.S. company ending up as a subsidiary of a foreign corporation. “If allowed to continue, inversions will eviscerate the U.S. domestic corporate tax base, because making a foreign company the parent of a U.S. firm opens up new tax-avoidance possibilities,” Kleinbard wrote.

Bloomberg Businessweek (July 22, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was interviewed about companies like Minnesota’s Medtronic moving their headquarters to Ireland for tax purposes. “Congress also should limit inverted companies from using offshore profits that haven’t been taxed by the U.S,” said Kleinbard.Medtronic, for example, has $20.5 billion in accumulated offshore profits and is borrowing from that stash to finance its purchase of Dublin-based Covidien Plc. Under the rule suggested by Kleinbard, that foreign loan would be subject to U.S. taxes, just as if the money had been loaned or repatriated to the U.S. parent company.

The Fiscal Times (July 16, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was interviewed about corporate tax inversions and the need for corporate tax reform. “The inversions demonstrate the need for fundamental corporate tax reform,” Kleinbard said. “In that sense, they are a canary in the coal mine. On the other hand, (if Congress waits) to get around to corporate tax reform, there won’t be a corporate tax base left to

The Wall Street Journal (June 30, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was cited about multinational companies creating “stateless income,” a kind of international tax shelter.

Star-Tribune (June 25, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about companies, such as Minnesota’s Medtronic, moving their headquarters to Ireland for tax purposes. With the new corporate structure, Medtronic’s foreign subsidiaries could loan money to the holding company without incurring U.S. taxes. “They can spend that money on anything they please,” Kleinbard said.

The Economist (June 21, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about companies like Minnesota’s Medtronic moving their headquarters to Ireland for tax purposes. Because Medtronic has borrowed heavily at home, it can use its foreign cash to reduce debt and finance the acquisition itself, engaging in “hopscotch” transactions, according to Kleinbard, that funnel cash from non-American subsidiaries to the Irish holding company.

Capitol Public Radio (June 20, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was interviewed about companies like Minnesota’s Medtronic moving their headquarters to Ireland for tax purposes. “It should drive American taxpayers crazy that firms are generating large amounts of income — extraordinary amounts of income — in jurisdictions where in fact they’re not doing any business,” Kleinbard said.

The Wall Street Journal (June 18, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about penalties for American expatriates who do not declare income being held in foreign accounts.

Star-Tribune (June 17, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about companies like Minnesota’s Medtronic moving their headquarters to Ireland for tax purposes. Kleinbard called the deal Medtronic announced Sunday “a textbook example” of using accounting rules to gain unfettered access to cash the United States would otherwise tax, and said that “policymakers are not going to have a corporate tax base.”

Financial Times (June 12, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the differences between a company’s “book tax” and “cash tax.” “Book tax is extremely important. It is the filter through which we see companies. It dominates corporate behaviour much more than cash taxes do,” said Kleinbard.

Washington Examiner (May 30, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about U.S. residents giving up their citizenship to avoid capital gains taxes. “Where are you going to move that has a lower tax rate? Yes you can move to Singapore if you want to live in Singapore for the rest of your life, but not if you want to live in Europe, not if you want to live in Canada,” Kleinbard said. He also noted that most Americans who renounce their citizenship have “very attenuated connections with the United States.”

Bloomberg Businessweek (May 27, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about how U.S. companies can impact congressional policy on tax limit plans. Kleinbard said that companies can change the political dynamic.

The Washington Post (May 21, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about corporate tax avoidance strategies and how they imply a lack of faith in congressional efforts to reform the tax code. “I view tax inversions as motivated by existential tax despair,” said Kleinbard.

Die Welt (Germany) (May 18, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about corporate tax strategies employed by Starbucks.

Financial Times (May 7, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the UK offering itself as a tax shelter for multinational corporations.

Financial Times (May 4, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about tax competition between nations.

The Wall Street Journal (April 29, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was interviewed about eBay deciding to bring its foreign-held cash back to the U.S., incurring a $3 billion tax bill. “Firms as strong as eBay could go the Apple route and just use foreign cash to service their debt,” said Kleinbard, a former chief of staff for Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation. “It’s surprising that a company would incur current costs when they could just issue debt.”

Irish Independent (April 26, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about a law passed to stop American corporations from shifting their legal addresses to outside the country. The 2004 law has “clearly been a failure” in halting the tax exodus, said Kleinbard.

Bloomberg News (April 26, 2014)

The Washington Post (April 18, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was cited about tax shelter strategies employed by Starbucks in the U.K.

NPR affiliate WAMU-FM’s “The Diane Rehm Show” (April 15, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was interviewed about tax reform. “The overall tax structure of the United States is not terribly progressive… We were often very cynical about Congress and deservedly so, but it’s also the case that Congress has a very refined notion of justice. Every time you draw a line, somebody falls on the wrong side of the line and Congress then tries to then re-tailor the line to deal with that sympathetic case, so we end up with one sympathetic case piled on another. Then, from the other direction, every time we hear a single abusive case, Congress becomes indignant and we have to carve out the abuse case – and the result is extraordinary complexity,” Kleinbard said.

Politico (April 15, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about how the IRS conducts and targets tax audits these days. “What’s happening over the years is that the IRS has relied more on systems and less on traditional audits so the audit effort can be focused on places where there are real issues,” said Kleinbard.

The New York Times (April 3, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about corporate tax shelters employed by the Caterpillar construction equipment company. On the Caterpillar’s sheer lack of creativeness, Kleinbard noted that “this is boring as an intellectual matter.”

Los Angeles Times (April 1, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was cited about corporate tax shelters and what he terms “stateless income.”

American Public Media’s Marketplace (March 21, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was interviewed about corporate tax shelter strategies. “Whether it’s Apple or General Motors or General Electric, it doesn’t matter. These in fact are constellations of hundreds of companies located all over the world,” Kleinbard said.

The Hill (March 16, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about official JCT scores. “They might be interesting in an academic setting, and as a conversation for economists to play around with,” Kleinbard said, “but they have nothing to do with how human beings approach the world. To draw lessons from it would be a very dangerous thing.”

The Wall Street Journal (March 12, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about potential tax benefits motivating Chiquita to move its operations to Ireland: “It is greatly improbable that they have chosen Ireland as its domicile because of its superior banana growing climate,” Kleinbard said.

The Wall Street Journal (March 7, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was cited about tax policy proposals.

Bloomberg Businessweek (March 5, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about President Obama’s tax proposals for U.S. multinational corporations. “Current law is subsidizing General Electric and every other U.S. multinational with a single-digit effective tax rate,” said Kleinbard.

The Washington Post (March 5, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the American corporate tax system. “The problem is not an international tax system that unacceptably handicaps U.S. businesses. Instead the problem is an international tax system both in the United States and other countries that U.S. multinational firms have demonstrated they are highly skilled at gaming,” he said.

The Irish Independent (Ireland) (February 2, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about a 2004 law that intended to penalize CEOs whose companies shift their legal addresses to tax havens. The law has “clearly been a failure,” said Kleinbard. “It now has the perverse result of putting money into executives’ pockets sooner.”

The Wall Street Journal (January 29, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about the new corporate structure of Fiat Chrysler. “Chrysler has been a subsidiary of a foreign company for years, and they’ll still be a subsidiary of Fiat when this is all over,” said Kleinbard.

Bloomberg News (January 25, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about a congressional law intended to penalize CEOs whose companies shift their legal addresses to tax havens. “The 2004 law has clearly been a failure in halting the tax exodus, and it now has the perverse result of putting money into executives’ pockets sooner,” he said.

Ars Technica (January 18, 2014)

Edward Kleinbard was quoted about corporate tax shelter techniques known as the “Dutch Sandwich” and “Double Irish.” “This kind of tax planning, I believe, will end—the tax rate on the tech firms is going to go up, and they are squealing like stuck pigs,” he said.