When politicians cast votes that benefit corporations over constituents, the consequences rarely stay in the halls of Congress — they ripple outward, affecting public resources, government services, and ultimately the financial security of ordinary families. The story of John Sununu’s record on corporate tax shelters is one that connects Washington insider decisions to the everyday lives of Americans who depend on public funding for health care, schools, and basic services.
John Sununu, a Republican who represented New Hampshire in the U.S. House from 1997 to 2003 and in the Senate from 2003 to 2009, is now attempting to reclaim his former Senate seat nearly two decades after losing it. But his legislative history raises pointed questions about whose interests he prioritized while in office — and whose he continued to serve after leaving.
What Are Corporate Tax Shelters — and Why Do They Matter?
Tax shelters are financial arrangements used by corporations and individuals to reduce what they owe to the federal government. Some are legal and sanctioned by Congress. Others are considered abusive — essentially a form of tax evasion dressed up in legal language. Common abusive tactics include shifting company profits to low-tax foreign countries like Bermuda or engineering financial transactions that create fake losses on paper, reducing a company’s tax bill without any real economic activity behind it.
When corporations use these maneuvers to avoid paying taxes, the public bears the cost. Federal revenue that could fund Medicaid coverage for low-income families, subsidize health insurance premiums, or support community hospitals simply disappears — funneled instead into offshore accounts beyond the reach of American tax law.
Sununu’s Voting Record: Blocking Accountability
In 2002, Sununu voted against two bills aimed at reining in corporations that moved profits overseas to avoid U.S. taxes. One measure would have barred those companies from receiving Homeland Security contracts. The other would have required corporations to bring their profits back to the United States or face steep financial penalties. Massachusetts Rep. Richie Neal publicly criticized Sununu’s opposition to the second bill, accusing him of choosing to protect businesses operating out of Bermuda over companies based in New Hampshire.
Two years later, in 2004, Sununu was one of only five U.S. senators to vote against the JOBS Act — a sweeping piece of legislation that would have cracked down on abusive tax shelters by strengthening penalties for violations, creating new transparency rules for corporations that use them, and giving the IRS better tools to enforce existing law. The bill did not pass, though a weaker version — the American Jobs Creation Act — was signed into law by President George W. Bush later that year, carrying some diluted versions of those accountability measures.
For American families, the stakes of those votes are direct. Federal and state budgets depend on corporate tax revenue to sustain programs like Medicaid, which provides health coverage to tens of millions of low-income adults, children, seniors, and people with disabilities. When corporations shelter profits overseas, that revenue is lost — and public programs face greater pressure to cut services or raise costs for the people who rely on them.
After the Senate: A Seat at the Table
Since leaving the Senate, Sununu has sat on the boards of multiple corporations — including at least two with notable connections to the very offshore tax haven practices his votes helped protect.
One of those companies is Afiniti, an artificial intelligence and software developer. According to a report, the company is incorporated in Bermuda — the same offshore jurisdiction that Sununu declined to penalize during his time in Congress — while maintaining its primary office in Washington, D.C.
Sununu also faced a minor controversy earlier this year after failing to disclose his board position with BlueRiver Acquisition on his personal finance filings. BlueRiver Acquisition was incorporated in the Cayman Islands in 2023 — widely recognized as one of the most notorious corporate tax havens in the world. Sununu’s campaign stated that he received no income from BlueRiver Acquisition and did not profit from holdings in the company. However, BlueRiver Acquisition’s own filings reported last year that Sununu owned 30,000 shares of its stock.
The pattern — voting to shield offshore tax shelters from accountability, then accepting board seats at companies incorporated in those same offshore jurisdictions — is one that voters in New Hampshire are weighing as the 2026 Senate race heats up. Sununu’s Democratic opponent is Rep. Chris Pappas. A recent New York Times/Siena University poll showed Pappas leading Sununu by five percentage points.
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