Press Release

Bessent concedes need to address tax haven loophole that allows corporations to avoid paying their fair share WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) , a member of the Senate Finance Committee , today pressed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the ballooning national debt and its implications for hardworking Vermont families. Sen . Welch: “I want to talk about what I think is a looming crisis that gets far too little attention in this Congress and that’s the national debt…The projection of the debt, first of all, January of 2025, it was $36.2 trillion. It’s now $39.2 trillion…The trajectory of this debt is just going up and up and up. The Congressional Budget Office right now says that that debt held by the public—is 99% of the Gross Domestic Product—is scheduled to go up by 2030 to 120%. And, we’re now paying interest, as you know probably better than anybody, of $970 billion. So, taxpayer revenues are going $970 billion to debt—that exceeds our military budget. Obviously, that means we cannot spend that on other things that folks in Mr. Crapo’s district and folks in my district need. The federal interest payments rose to 18.5% of all of our revenues and the CBO says that’s going to go up to 25.8% by 2036. We don’t talk about it at all. It’s not even a topic. Which is astonishing to me because it’s such a threat.” Senator Welch continued: “I absolutely believe that the people who owe money should be paying that money, and that we should have assertive enforcement in order to get that collected—regardless of what the growth rate is. That’s number one. Number two…companies are now using these low-tax dodge countries: like American Express avoided $423 million in taxes by using the Island of Jersey, saying that’s where they do their work. BLACK+DECKER cut their bill by $27 million by using Cyprus. Many companies use Malta—S&P Global cut its tax bill by $269 million. Is that something that we should tolerate?” Secretary Bessent: “No.” Watch Senator Welch’s full remarks below : Senator Welch opposed Secretary Bessent’s nomination. In his confirmation hearing, Senator Welch pushed Secretary Bessent about the affordability crisis and the need for the incoming administration to work with Democrats to extend tax credits to help all Americans access affordable health care, childcare, and housing. Last summer, Senator Welch grilled Secretary Bessent about how President Trump’s unpredictable economic policies have wrought instability for Vermonters in every corner of the Green Mountain State. ###