[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5042]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         TYCO SHAREHOLDER VOTE

  (Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, while the House today takes 
up a budget resolution to fund important programs for education, 
national defense, health care, homeland security, environment and 
veterans, let me point out that there is another vote taking place 
today. That is the vote of the shareholders of the Tyco corporation. 
They are going to continue to shirk their responsibilities, apparently.
  In 1997, New Hampshire-based Tyco, International renounced its 
corporate citizenship and changed its mailing address to Bermuda to 
avoid paying $400 million in U.S. taxes. Today, shareholders will be 
asked to vote on a resolution that will change that. My hunch--it is 
going to fail.
  This is unfortunate for all Americans because they are being asked to 
make sacrifices during a wartime economy. We have 134,000 troops in 
Afghanistan and Iraq while Tyco, International and the Bermuda-based 
companies, all for the price of a $27,000 post office box they do not 
want to contribute, and the other side does not want to do anything 
about it.
  I am the sponsor of the Corporate Patriot Enforcement Act which would 
deny tax benefits to former American companies that reincorporate 
offshore simply to avoid paying the same taxes the rest of us do. 
According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, we could save $4 billion 
just asking these folks to pay their fair share.

                          ____________________