US Senate’s tax plan boosts penalty on sending profit abroad

American firms would face steeper penalties for shifting profits abroad in a plan from Senate Democrats that offers the clearest picture yet of the higher levies that big firms could be paying from next year.

In draft legislation released Wednesday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden is outlining his vision for how to reform the global tax sys- tem for multinational cor- porations, which Democrats say have been subject to lax rules that for decades have allowed them to shift profits and jobs outside the US.

“Overhauling the international tax code is central to our efforts to restore fairness,” Wyden said in a statement on the legislation, which was coauthored by fellow Finance Committee members Sherrod Brown and Mark Warner. Increased corporate-tax levies will “fund critical investments like the paid leave and the expanded child tax credit— Social Security for our children” Democrats are planning, he said.