U.S. Chamber Calls for Tax Reform as U.S. Corporate Rate Becomes Highest in the World

Says United States Should Adopt Simpler System with Lower Corporate and Individual Rates and Territorial System

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President for Government Affairs Bruce Josten issued the following statement today ahead of the U.S. corporate tax rate becoming the world’s highest on April 1, 2012:

“In just a few days, the United States will hold the dubious distinction of having the highest corporate tax rate in the world. By simply standing still, we are falling behind. We need fundamental, comprehensive tax reform to improve our tax system, strengthen the economy, and help American companies compete and win.

“The United States tax system is increasingly out of step with the world economy and its competitors’ tax systems. As countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom have moved to reform their tax systems and lower rates to encourage economic growth, America’s inaction puts American worldwide companies at a competitive disadvantage and threatens our economic recovery.

“The Chamber believes now is the time for comprehensive, fundamental tax reform that lowers the individual and corporate rates and keeps them synchronized. Reform should also shift to a territorial tax system, bring taxpayers certainty, simplify the tax code, and provide adequate transition rules to get our tax code from where it is now to where it should be.

“Ultimately, the marketplace, and not the tax system, should allocate capital and resources. We can’t allow our tax code to continue to punish American businesses and taxpayers. We need reform and we need it now if we are serious about driving economic growth, creating jobs, and enhancing American competitiveness.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations.

U.S. Stores Learn the Ropes of Shipping to Foreign Shoppers

Excerpt from an article in

The New York Times

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

U.S. Stores Learn the Ropes of Shipping to Foreign Shoppers

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

Macy’s has long marketed itself as a shopping destination for visitors to the United States. It offers a savings card with a 10 percent discount for foreign shoppers, custom programs for tour groups and travel agents, and a tourism Web site that lists shopping events and recommended hotels near Macy’s flagship stores.

But only last year did Macys.com — which shoppers worldwide can look at — offer overseas shipping.

“We were getting international traffic,” said Kent Anderson, president of Macys.com. “It was coming whether we were offering them, frankly, any realistic way to interact with the site or not.”

Macy’s is one of several retailers trying to extend its international presence to its Web operations by shipping overseas. In the last year, Williams-Sonoma, J. Crew, Aéropostale, Crate and Barrel and Lane Bryant have added international shipping to their Web sites, while Ann Taylor and Neiman Marcus are working on it.

Some of the retailers are meeting existing or anticipated overseas demand, while others are testing the waters before opening stores in other countries. Either way, they are discovering that shipping beyond the United States is not a simple undertaking.

“Typically the guys we’re talking to start off thinking they can toss it in a box and give it to U.P.S. or FedEx and hope it gets there,” said Michael DeSimone, chief executive of FiftyOne, a technology company that helps retailers add international shipping capabilities.

But there are problems with ordering systems, customs and postal fees, he said.

For example, many retailers do not have software in their warehouse management systems that recognizes foreign postal codes, which — unlike those in the United States — do not always have five digits.

“It sounds like a really stupid reason not to sell internationally,” Mr. DeSimone said, “but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this was the biggest roadblock.”

The appeal to reaching customers in other countries is based largely on the popularity of mobile phone sales overseas. Forrester Research expects online retail sales in the Western Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America regions to increase 67 percent from 2011 to 2015, compared with 42 percent for the United States.

And traffic to American Web sites from international visitors is already high.

UK Citizen & 2 Americans Charged for Conspiring to Defraud US Govt.

United Kingdom Citizen and Two Americans Charged in Alabama for Allegedly Conspiring to Defraud the United States Government 

U.S. Department of JusticeMarch 13, 2012

Office of Public Affairs(202) 514-2007/TDD (202) 514-1888

WASHINGTON—United Kingdom citizen Ahmed Sarchil Kazzaz and his company, Leadstay Company, were charged in an indictment unsealed today in the Northern District of Alabama for their roles in a conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay kickbacks in exchange for receiving subcontracts for a Department of Defense program in Iraq, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance of the Northern District of Alabama.

Kazzaz, 45, and Leadstay were charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud and commit offenses against the United States; six counts of unlawful kickbacks; one count of wire fraud; and three counts of mail fraud. Kazzaz was arrested on February 14, 2012 in Los Angeles. In addition, two informations filed in the Northern District of Alabama were unsealed today, charging Gaines R. Newell Jr., 52, and Billy Joe Hunt, 57, with conspiracy to commit the federal offenses of kickbacks, wire fraud, and mail fraud, and with filing false tax returns.

According to the indictment, Kazzaz paid more than $947,500 in unlawful kickbacks to two employees of a prime contractor to the United States government in order to obtain lucrative subcontracts for himself and Leadstay, in connection with the Coalition Munitions Clearance Program (CMCP). CMCP is operated in Iraq by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville Engineering and Support Center (HESC). HESC, located in the Northern District of Alabama, operated the CMCP to clear out, store, and dispose of weapons that were seized or abandoned in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. HESC awarded a contract to perform this work to an international engineering and construction firm headquartered in Pasadena, California.

The indictment alleges that beginning in about March 2006, Kazzaz entered into a kickback agreement with the California prime contractor’s program manager and deputy program manager, who arranged for the award of subcontracts to Kazzaz and Leadstay to provide materials, heavy equipment and operators for equipment for the CMCP. Kazzaz also allegedly obtained multiple funding increases to those subcontracts. From April 2006 through August 2008, Kazzaz and Leadstay received more than $23 million in U.S. funds for services under the CMCP.

According to the two informations unsealed today, Newell was the program manager in Iraq for the California-based prime contractor to HESC, and Hunt was the deputy program manager. Both are charged with conspiring to solicit and accept kickbacks to award subcontracts under the CMCP program and to commit mail and wire fraud by knowingly and intentionally devising a scheme to defraud the United States. In addition, both are charged with failing to report the kickback income on their federal tax returns.

“Mr. Kazzaz allegedly paid kickbacks to two employees of a California-based contractor in order to secure subcontracts for Department of Defense programs in Iraq,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. “Federal contracts must be won or lost based on the merits of the bid, and we will continue to take aggressive steps to hold accountable anyone who tries to play by their own set of rules instead.”

“Government contracts fraud is an insult to all law-abiding taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney Vance. “These defendants’ conduct was even worse in that they tried to illegally profit from defense contracts in Iraq, where American men and women were willing to put their lives on the line for freedom.”

“These charges clearly demonstrate that we will take firm action against those who make illegal payments while engaged in wartime contracting,” said Stuart W. Bowen, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR). “SIGIR and its investigative partners will continue our vigorous pursuit of those whose illegal acts undermined the U.S. government’s management of the stabilization and reconstruction effort in Iraq.”

“Individuals and businesses that illegally enrich themselves at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer, especially as wartime profiteers, or those who diminish the combat readiness or effectiveness of the U.S. military, will be aggressively investigated by DCIS and our investigative partners,” said Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Special Agent in Charge Chris D. Hendrickson. “The combined investigative effort, the Department of Justice, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s work demonstrate the combined federal commitment to combating fraud, waste, and abuse.”

“IRS Criminal Investigation provides financial expertise with our law enforcement partners,” said Special Agent in Charge Leslie P. DeMarco of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) Los Angeles Field Office. “Today’s unsealing of these charges demonstrates our collective efforts in tracing illicit funds internationally to enforce the laws and ensure public trust.”

Kazzaz, Newell and Hunt are also facing criminal forfeiture proceedings.

The cases were investigated by the DCIS, IRS-CI, SIGIR, the FBI, and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division. The cases are being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Catherine Votaw, on detail from SIGIR to the Fraud Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Estes of the Northern District of Alabama.

An indictment and information contain charges, and defendants are innocent until proven guilty.