Group Blasts Honeywell for Allegedly Exploiting Tax Loopholes

Small business owners and advocacy groups are urging the Senate to approve a budget plan that closes corporate tax loopholes.

According to New Jersey Citizen Action, Fortune 500 companies like the Morris-based Honeywell Inernational exploit loopholes in the tax law that allow them to stash billions of dollars in offshore profits overseas.

Citizen Action reported Monday that Honeywell reported a $3.5 billion increase in its offshore profit holdings in 2012. The report also states that Honeywell paid a 2 percent “federal effective corporate tax rate from 2008 to 2011 while placing $11.6 billion in profits offshore in 2012."

Citizen Action and other business watch dog and advocacy groups held a press conference in Elizabeth Monday to discuss the report.

“The system has been rigged long enough to privilege the richest 2 percent and big corporations at the expense of the services and benefits the rest of us depend on for our kids, seniors, communities, and small businesses,” said Ann Vardeman, organizer for New Jersey Citizen Action.

Citizen Action claims eliminating the loopholes and limiting tax breaks for wealthy individuals would free up $1 trillion from the federal budget.

Gov. Chris Christie and state officials are also to blame, Vardeman said.

"Gov. Christie has had one of the most aggressive corporate subsidy policies in the country. It’s been his way of creating jobs and it hasn’t been working, New Jersey has the fourth highest unemployment rate in the country,” she added.