Sen. Levin urges Senate to close loophole that gives Facebook a $3 billion tax break

WASHINGTON -- On the Senate floor this morning, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., urged his colleagues to close a tax loophole that gives Facebook a $3 billion tax break. Levin has introduced a bill along with Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., that would close the loophole. Here is an excerpt from Sen. Levin's speech, which is posted in its entirety on his Web site:

There has been a great deal of conversation recently about the need to close tax loopholes. This is a welcome development for those of us who have gone after these loopholes for years.

It is particularly timely as the public is focusing more and more on how tax loopholes distort economic incentives and often benefit the wealthiest among us at the expense of most U.S. taxpayers.

Last week, President Obama released a framework for business tax reform that took aim at many corporate tax loopholes. I look forward to working with the administration and with my colleagues in the Senate to make real reform a reality -- reform that brings greater fairness to the tax code, eliminates incentives for moving jobs and assets overseas, restores revenue lost to unjustified tax loopholes, and helps us reduce the deficit without damaging vital programs for education, transportation, health care and national security.

One recent and very public announcement illustrates dramatically our tax code’s distortions and the need for reform. At the center of this story is Facebook and its founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg....

Click here to read the rest of Sen. Levin's speech.