HOUSE BILL 2184
State Corporate Income Tax Disclosure

Missourians for Tax Justice and the Tax Justice for a Healthy Missouri campaign support House Bill 2184.

HB 2184 was filed by Rep. Beth Low on February 18, 2008 and second-read on February 19.
This bill was not assigned to a committee by the House Speaker until May 16, the last day of the legislative session. This prevented any consideration or discussion of this proposal.

For a summary and the text of the bill, Click Here.


WHY IS CORPORATE TAX DISCLOSURE NEEDED?

  • To provide information that allows citizens, lawmakers, and the news media
    to assess whether corporations are paying their "fair share" of the revenue the
    state must have to provide needed public services.

  • To provide information that allows citizens, lawmakers, and the news media to
    assess whether corporate tax rates are too high or too low, whether the tax burden
    is distributed equitably among corporations in the same industry, among different industries, between small and large corporations. To provide an answer: Is there a "level playing field" in state corporate tax policy?

  • To provide information that allows citizens, lawmakers, and the news media to
    assess whether tax credits awarded to corporations are providing benefits to the
    state.


Federal law requires corporations to file annual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports include data on corporate profits, federal taxes paid and other tax data. This information is available on the SEC’s Internet site.

Unfortunately, neither the SEC nor most state governments require corporations to release detailed information on their state corporate tax payments—so it’s hard to identify which corporations are not paying their fair share at the state level.

In their Policy Brief on corporate tax disclosure, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy says:

"Tax fairness is important. The perception that state and local taxes are treating individuals and corporations fairly is a cornerstone of public support for the tax system and for their government. But the fairness of corporate taxes cannot be evaluated without some basic information about how much companies pay in taxes, and how much they earn.

"If some corporations are paying less in taxes than they should be, then we need to know how and why. If some companies are paying a lot relative to other tax-avoiding corporations, policy makers should know this too. Corporate tax disclosure is the best means available to ensure that each corporation is treated fairly—and that corporations as a whole pay their fair share of taxes."

Last Update 6/3/08
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