Buying Out LaSalle Bank: What Chicago Has to Lose

Bank of America: A Tax Liability to Illinois and Our Communities?

With a Bank of America acquisition of La Salle Bank, Illinois could be facing a significant loss of tax revenue. With its headquarters in North Carolina, Bank of America may not pay the same taxes as the Illinois-based LaSalle does. And Bank of America has a record of trying to avoid the taxes it is required to pay. The company has shown tremendous creativity in identifying ways to get around paying taxes, and has even been fined for looking the other way in a prominent tax-shelter case. The examples described below include a Nevada tax shelter that saved $750 million in taxes, the largest-ever fine in a money-laundering case related to the tax avoidance efforts of two Texas billionaires, attempts to avoid $62 million in back taxes Bank of America owes to the State of Massachusetts, and an effort to take a state income and franchise tax case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. With the state of Illinois facing an $875 million budget shortfall, we must make sure Bank of America is held accountable for paying its fair share.