We all pay our taxes. Why shouldn’t multibillion-dollar corporations? Thanks to corporate inversions, many highly profitable companies are stiffing the United States government of billions of dollars that could be used to fund vital social programs. By buying a foreign company and reincorporating overseas, these corporations are able to avoid US taxes even while they enjoy the benefits of keeping much of their operations located here. The practice is getting more popular; currently, more than a dozen countries are plotting to change their address.

Because politicians depend on these same tax dodgers for their campaign funds, Congress isn’t going to do anything about this problem. But President Obama has promised to do so. We need to demand that he take the strongest action possible to stop these corporate deserters. Tell the president to sign an executive order that prevents corporations from deserting America by pretending to be located offshore.

In her column for The Washington Post, Katrina vanden Heuvel explains the politics surrounding corporate inversions and argues that we must address the “underlying disease” that ultimately allows so many powerful corporations to avoid paying their fair share.

On The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert lays out the absurdity of corporate inversions: “It’s like me adopting an African child, then claiming myself as his dependent.”