A growing number of economists, columnists, editorial boards and lawmakers are calling for immediate action to stem the tide of corporate inversions, with a dozen prospective deals reportedly announced this year alone. As Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin wrote today in a New York Times opinion piece, “The issue of corporate inversions is an urgent matter that requires our collective swift response."
Edward Kleinbard, Professor of Law, USC Gould School : “If allowed to continue, inversions will eviscerate the U.S. domestic corporate tax base, because making a foreign company the parent of a U.S. firm opens up new tax-avoidance possibilities."
Allan Sloan, Fortune Magazine : “If you don’t do something quickly to halt inversions, by the time you get around to dealing with them as part of corporate tax reform, the corporate tax base will have been so diminished that it will be extremely difficult for you to come up with any sort of revenue-neutral program."
Scott Klinger, Center for Effective Government : “With the abuse of inversion rules now front-page news, and with estimates that the new wave of inversions could cost the Treasury $20 billion over the next decade, Congress is once again poised to act."
Chye-Ching Huang, Senior Tax Policy Analyst, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities : “U.S. policymakers should first swiftly enact targeted anti-inversion legislation to protect the U.S. tax base."
Thomas Hungerford, Economic Policy Institute : “Tax reform is not going to happen any time soon, but the tax base is eroding now."
New York Times Editorial Board : “Until Congress actually changes the law, inversions will continue, reducing revenues and undermining the whole notion of tax fairness."
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew : “Congress should enact legislation immediately - and make it retroactive to May 2014 - to shut down this abuse of our tax system."
Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Robert Stack: “I want to emphasize the serious need for the United States to once again directly address the potential loss of federal tax revenues from corporate inversion transactions. Letting our corporate tax base erode through inversions will worsen our fiscal challenges over the coming years."
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chairman, Senate Finance Committee : “The inversion loophole needs to be plugged now."
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Ranking Member, Senate Finance Committee : “As I have said publicly on multiple occasions, I am greatly concerned about corporate inversions. There may be steps that Congress can take to at least partially address this issue in the interim."
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Member, Senate Finance Committee : “If we wait for tax reform we’re going to have lots more inversions and it’s going to take far too long if we ever get to tax reform at all."
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Member, Senate Finance Committee : “This is not a partisan issue, this is an American issue. This is a deep concern to us. We need to get started on this"
Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Chairman, Senate Armed Services Committee : “It’s become increasingly clear that a loophole in our tax laws allowing these inversions threatens to devastate federal tax receipts. We have to close that loophole."
