RELEASE: Small Biz Support Multinational Tax Transparency in New Poll

October 6th, 2020

Washington, DC — Small business owners in the United States strongly support mandating increased tax disclosures for multinational corporations, according to a new, nationwide poll released Tuesday by Main Street Alliance. The scientific poll of 600 small business owners across the United States found that 3 out of 4 small business owners support legislation that would require multinational corporations to publicly report key financial data on a country-by-country basis. The survey was conducted by Lake Research Partners from August 31 – September 16, 2020 and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percent. 

On the release of the poll results, Cynthia Ward Wikstrom, Campaigns Director for Main Street Alliance had this to say:

“Small business is the backbone of the American economy. While multinational corporations use accounting gimmicks and offshore tax havens to dodge U.S. tax liability, small business owners and our consumers are asked to pick up the tab. This poll data reflects a strong call from the small business community: it’s time for Congress to demand multinational corporations pay their share. Tax transparency is the first step to addressing this problem.”

Key Findings: 

• Small business owners support legislation that would require multinational corporations to publicly report key financial data on a country-by-country basis. 74 percent of small business owners surveyed support, and 51 percent strongly support, legislation that would require multinational corporations with annual revenues over $850 million to publicly report their taxes, profits, revenues, and assets for each country in which they operate. A comparable margin of small business owners would also support legislation that would require the same disclosure for companies above a lower threshold of $100 million in revenues (71 percent support, 54 percent strongly support).
  

• Small business owners almost universally agree that multinational tax avoidance is an issue. 87 percent of small business owners surveyed see the practice of multinational corporations shifting profits offshore to avoid paying taxes they would otherwise owe as a problem, and two-thirds see it as a major problem.
  

• In an engaged debate, by two-to-one, small business owners side with a statement that supports requiring multinational corporations to disclose their tax information.

See more detailed poll results.