Steven Rattner is a managing principle of a private investment firm, Quadrangle Group LLC, and a former New York Times reporter. In an op-ed article in The Washington Post he examined the various reasons why the nation should examine the question of whether American businesses are paying their fair share of taxes. Rattner cited various factors behind the drooping tax revenues including the ability of multi-national corporations to manage their tax obligations by shifting their profits to countries with lower tax rates. Citing an April 12 analysis of IRS audit data by TRAC, Rattner also argued that increasingly lax enforcement had emboldened companies "to push the edges of the tax system."
Washington Post -- Why Corporations Pay Less,
May 18, 2004, PDF file
