From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch — Originally published Sunday, May 10

… [F]our out of five of America’s biggest corporations have been … [e]nhancing their bottom lines by stashing money in overseas tax havens, thereby costing the Treasury up to $100 billion a year in unpaid taxes.

On Monday, President Barack Obama proposed cracking down on performance-enhancing tax havens, both for corporations and for wealthy individuals.

… Initial reaction among Republicans, and many Democrats, was mixed: Fine if you want to after individuals who are dodging taxes, but leave the corporations alone.

… Never mind that this issue has been studied for at least two decades. Every dollar that corporations and individuals dodge is another dollar that other taxpayers must make up.

… It may be that Mr. Obama has so many other issues on his plate that he won’t fight this one to the death. It may be that he’ll accept the argument that cracking down on tax havens is, in effect, a tax increase that would slow economic recovery. It could be he’ll trade this issue for corporate support for health care reforms.

But long term, this practice has to end. …