Dear Chairman Camp:
I was encouraged last week to see Senator Hatch express openness to take steps to address corporate inversions short of comprehensive tax reform. Senator Wyden, too, has noted that he is exploring options to address the issue in both the near and long term and the Senate Finance Committee is planning to hold a hearing on the issue on Tuesday. As you know, I, with other Democrats in the House, have introduced legislation to address the problem. I believe it is vital that House Republicans join in bipartisan discussions to stop the flood of corporate inversions. This is an issue of immediate urgency, requiring a bipartisan effort to address it.
Clearly that bipartisan effort must also include the Administration. As you know, on July 15, Secretary Lew wrote to urge the Congress to immediately enact legislation “to reverse the trend toward corporate inversions," and to make any such legislation effective from May 2014. He emphasized that, short of undertaking a comprehensive reform of the business tax system, there are concrete steps that Congress can take now.
The wave of corporate inversions threatens to undermine the U.S. tax base and our economy, to the long-term detriment of all of the companies that do business here, as Allan Sloan described in a recent cover story for Fortune magazine. Companies that move their address overseas to avoid paying their fair share of taxes will no doubt continue to benefit from being headquartered in the United States, with our robust financial markets, protection of intellectual property rights, our support of research and development, along with our stable communities and wealth of educated workers.
Comprehensive tax reform must help level the playing field for American companies, but we have witnessed firsthand how challenging of an achievement it remains. The promise of tax reform must not be used as an excuse to do nothing while more and more companies invert to avoid U.S. taxes.
Sincerely,
Sander M. Levin
Ranking Member
Committee on Ways and Means
