Letter: Bring our business home with a deal on repatriated taxes – TCPalm

Matthew Burns, Stuart

Letter: Bring our business home with a deal on repatriated taxes

Since 2009 U.S. multinational corporations have been feeding unrepatriated profits back into the United States in ways that avoid full taxation. Cute names like “Killer B” and “Deadly D” are strategies that have saved billions of dollars in taxes owed to the government. There are many other “ruses” being used!

There is an astounding amount thought by some accounting groups to be currently as high as $2 trillion to $3 trillion of unrepatriated profits still offshore. The estimate of unrepatriated profits from congressional reports as of 2010 was slightly more than $1 trillion.

Being fair, U.S. corporate taxes of 35 percent on profits repatriated is ridiculous. The international norm is approximately 11 percent to 15 percent. The question is why? The Obama administration knew about these games of paying mere pennies on the dollars or profits kept offshore, and didn’t make a deal, reduce the tax, and get the money. That’s indefensible.

At a time when jobs are disappearing and corporations are currently building manufacturing and maintenance plants in Mexico where the gross domestic product and employment is booming because of their patronage, why did the president’s administration not offer a deal?

The president could have said to those businesses like GE, Goodrich, Honeywell, Cessna and others who recently built in Mexico, “We’ll offer zero tax on repatriated money if your companies build those new plants here and hire American labor.”

Perhaps the president would have wanted union organization; and, tough federal agencies would have made construction and licensing difficult like Boeing’s situation.

We do know sadly the American people need those jobs. America needs to retain corporations here if possible. So far we have seen continued flight from our shores under this administration. We seem less competitive.