WASHINGTON - Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today made the following statement on the House floor urging immediate action to address corporate inversions. The statement was made in support of defeating the previous question on the rule to consider H.R. 3522. Defeating the previous question could lead to consideration of the Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 2014 :
“Right now, corporations can move their tax address overseas and avoid or lower their U.S. taxes. Middle class and other typical families cannot do that - they cannot simply change their tax address. Since the beginning of this year, more than a dozen large corporations have announced their plans for inversions. And yet they will continue to benefit from being headquartered in our country, taking advantage of everything this country has to offer - whether it is our wealth of educated workers, government funding of basic research, tax credits like R&D, or our robust financial markets. They will pay less in U.S. taxes - so much so that the American tax base is expected to lose $20 billion over the next 10 years if we do nothing to address the issue. And who will make up the difference? Basically middle class taxpayers.
“The Republican answer? To do nothing and leave town next week or to say, ‘wait for tax reform at some undetermined time.’ Republicans are taking the President to court for use of executive authority at the same time that House Republicans fail to use their own authority, failing to do their job. Addressing this issue cannot wait. This is an immediate problem that requires an immediate legislative solution."
