The common perception in Washington these days is that comprehensive tax reform is dead…Capitol Hill wants to move on, and the election calendar dictates that lawmakers turn their attention to the midterm elections. But what remains of the evolving economic threats that caused us to take notice of the need for tax reform in the first place? The short of it is that those challenges are only mounting and grow realer with every passing day. – Claire Buchan Parker, LIFT America Coalition, Huffington Post
“Lawmakers say they are fuming about a recent spate of U.S. companies planning to uproot their headquarters and move overseas… Democrats and Republicans all said news of the latest corporate defector is another sign of the urgent need for tax reform, but no one proposed how to get that done before more companies head offshore.” – Politico Pro – 04/29/14
“The U.S. tax code is a mess, creating perverse incentives for companies to borrow more than they should, invest less than they would like to and accumulate more cash than they need.” – CNBC – 04/29/14
“The negative impact of our corporate tax laws ripples throughout the economy at every level. The flow of US companies overseas means fewer jobs in the United States… Reducing America’s tax rate to one that is more consistent with the international community would also go a long way toward increasing investment in the United States.” – James Carter, Forbes – 04/30/14
“The situation offers more evidence as to why the U.S. corporate tax system desperately needs work. Though the corporate tax structure been a simmering issue in Congress for some years now, the departure of U.S. companies for greener pastures should heighten the sense of urgency.” – The Denver Post – 04/30/14
“We call the U.S. business tax rate ‘among’ the world’s highest because, outside of places like North Korea that don’t allow private business, it’s nearly impossible to find a more punitive rate than the 40% inflicted in the U.S. …The U.S., almost alone among the world’s governments, demands to be paid on a company’s world-wide profits whenever those profits are brought back to the U.S. …[S]hareholders and the U.S. economy are paying a heavy price under the current U.S. code…the goal of U.S. tax policy should be to encourage companies to invest in America, not everywhere else.” – Wall Street Journal – 04/30/14
“‘Inversion transactions illustrate the need for comprehensive business tax reform that would lower corporate tax rates and limit the ability of multinationals to shift income outside the U.S.’” – Reuters – 05/01/14
“You know something is wrong when major U.S. companies are fleeing to Europe to pay less in taxes… If lawmakers can’t fix the corporate tax code — and perhaps a lot of other things that are broken as well — there will be many others that follow [Pfizer] out the door.” – USA Today – 05/01/14