ACT: Repatriation To Pay for Infrastructure Would Impede Progress Towards Tax Reform

WASHINGTON, D.C. June 24, 2015 The Alliance for Competitive Taxation released the statement below, ahead of the Ways and Means Committee hearing on the taxation of the repatriation of foreign earnings as a funding mechanism for a multi-year highway bill:

"ACT strongly supports revenue neutral tax reform which sets a competitive domestic corporate rate and modernizes our international tax system so America can better compete in the global marketplace.

"Some have proposed using revenues generated by repatriation of foreign earnings to pay for infrastructure spending without any accompanying tax reform. This would be a new tax that would be imposed on American companies doing business in foreign markets and would apply to historic earnings that are not held in cash, but instead that have been invested in facilities and equipment abroad--investments that are essential for American businesses to compete across the globe.

"Such a new tax would have no relationship to the use of U.S. infrastructure - and literally would give a free-ride to other users who would not be subject to this tax. Using repatriation to pay for infrastructure would only impede progress toward the vital goal of overhauling our outdated tax system."