May 20, 2009 12:05PM # IRS Commissioner: Obama Used False Numbers to Attack Low-Tax Jurisdictions By [Daniel J. Mitchell](https://www.cato.org/people/daniel-mitchell) --- SHARE During the campaign, President Obama [asserted ](http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/taxes/Factsheet_Tax_Plan_FINAL.pdf)that tax havens “cost” the Treasury $100 billion per year (see, for instance, 8:07 of this [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ6Ei9fbm84)), echoing the assertions made by demagogues such as Michigan’s Democratic Senator, Carl Levin. Many gullible journalists proceeded to disseminate this number, even though I repeatedly warned that it was a blatant fabrication. Indeed, it was the first falsehood that I punctured in my video entitled, [Tax Havens: Myths vs Facts](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTfZADGK6TY). So it was with considerable interest that I read about the recent testimony of IRS Commissioner, Douglas Shulman, who acknowledged that the Obama-Levin numbers are “wild estimates” that “don’t have much basis.” Here is the key passage from a [report from Bloomberg](http://business.theage.com.au/business/world-business/irs-disputes-us100b-taxhaven-loss-estimate-20090520-begy.html): > Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman said projections that the US loses $US100 billion annually to offshore tax havens are “wild estimates” that “don’t have much basis”. …“Those numbers are pretty broad numbers,” Shulman said. The $US100 billion figure, a compilation of private-sector estimates, is often cited by Michigan Senator Carl Levin… North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan also frequently cites the $US100 billion figure. This, of course, raises an interesting question. If politicians are willing to use dishonest numbers to push a certain policy, what does that suggest about the merits of the policy? ##### Related Tags [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).