US set to crack down on tax

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Democratic senator Carl Levin, who last month said Swiss bank UBS should be shut down in the US for running offshore tax schemes, indicated he would be seeking tighter controls.

He said the report made clear that "too many corporations are using tax trickery to send their profits overseas and avoid paying their fair
share in the United States".

The study by the Government Accountability Office said 72% of all foreign companies and about 57% of US companies doing business paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005.

During that time revenues of companies operating in the US totalled $2.5 trillion (£1.32 trillion), according to Levin and fellow Democrat Byron Dorgan who ordered the study.

The report did not name any companies but detailed ways firms avoid tax liabilities.