Make Your Voice Heard on Tax Reform!
Make your voice heard!
What the Experts Are Saying About Outsourcing and the GOP Tax Bill AFL-CIO StaffNovember 29, 2017
We know the Republican tax plan favors the super-rich and the wealthy corporations over working people. One of the many ways it will hurt working people is by setting up a territorial tax system, under which the active income of U.S. companies earned offshore will no longer be subject to U.S. taxes. This will further entice U.S. multinationals to shift their jobs and profits overseas.
But don't take our word for it. Here's what the experts are saying about outsourcing and the Republican tax bill:
Jared Bernstein, senior fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; former chief economist to Vice President Joe Biden:
“The Republican tax plan….is likely to lead to more outsourcing of U.S. jobs and a larger trade deficit. The tax plan moves to what’s called a territorial system of international taxation, which means the U.S. tax rate on the overseas earnings of U.S. foreign affiliates would become zero.”
Rebecca Kysar, professor of law, Brooklyn Law School:
“A pressing goal of tax reform is to reduce the incentives for companies to move their operations overseas. This bill does the opposite.”
Edward Kleinbard, former chief of staff, Joint Committee on Taxation; University of Southern California Gould School of Law:
“The administration’s tax cut proposal is coupled with a territorial tax system, which permanently exempts foreign income from taxation; this will further tilt the playing field in favor of foreign, rather than U.S., investment.”
Kimberly Clausing, professor of economics, Reed College:
The House and Senate Republican tax bills create a territorial tax system that “exempts foreign income from U.S. taxation. This tilts the playing field even further toward doing business abroad rather than at home, since there will always be countries with lower rates. A territorial system makes explicit and permanent the preference for foreign income over domestic income. It accelerates the profit shifting behind our corporate tax base erosion problem.”
Carl Levin, former senator:
“The House and Senate tax bills would be a monumental mistake for the country for many reasons, but one compelling reason is the disastrous way they treat foreign corporate profits and encourage companies to shift their operations and the economic benefits of intellectual property overseas.”
Richard Phillips, senior policy analyst, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy:
“The most significant component of the Senate tax proposal on international taxes is moving to a territorial tax system, under which active income of U.S. companies earned offshore will no longer be subject to U.S. taxes. By doing this, the Senate tax plan moves in the opposite direction of real tax reform by substantially contracting the base of the U.S. corporate tax. According to the Joint Tax Committee, moving to the territorial tax system would cost $215 billion over the next decade. Exempting offshore income from U.S. taxation would encourage further profit shifting and would also create a tax incentive for corporations to move real operations and jobs offshore to take advantage of lower tax rates.”
Steven Rosenthal, senior fellow, Tax Policy Center; former counsel to Joint Tax Committee:
"The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) that the Senate is debating this week would fundamentally change the way U.S.-based multinational corporations are taxed on their overseas income. But contrary to the claims of President Trump and congressional supporters, the new approach may still encourage U.S. companies to shift production overseas."
Reuven Avi-Yonah, professor of law, University of Michigan:
Certain “multinational corporations (for example, GE or Intel) will pay less because they have more tangible assets offshore. This creates an obvious incentive to move jobs (not just profits) offshore. Moreover, the proposal standing on its own would induce profit shifting because of the combination of the participation exemption and the lower rate (12.5% is less than 20%).”
Chuck Marr, director of Federal Tax Policy, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
“Another, less-noticed provision would permanently set an even lower tax rate for U.S.-based multinationals’ foreign profits by adopting a ‘territorial’ tax system, which would encourage firms to shift profits and investment offshore. As Senate Republican Ron Johnson said recently, ‘With a territorial system, there will be a real incentive to keep manufacturing overseas.’”
“This bill would create significant new tax incentives to move U.S. jobs, profits, and operations overseas, while exploding the deficit. The bill’s complicated structure also creates multiple new loopholes to allow for expanded tax avoidance by large multinational companies at the expense of small businesses and wholly domestic companies.”
Victor Fleischer, tax professor, University of San Diego:
“The international provisions of the Senate tax bill are worse than I thought—a very nice gift to multinationals.”