WASHINGTON, DC - Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today issued the following statement after Pfizer Inc. and Allergan plc formally announced their plans to merge, resulting in the largest corporate tax inversion this year:
“The news that Pfizer - one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. - plans to merge with a smaller Ireland-based company highlights the need for Congress to take action on inversions. Tax-motivated corporate inversions have cost the U.S. tens of billions of dollars, and place an increasing burden on American taxpayers. Historically, inverted companies maintain their key operations in the United States, which Pfizer is apparently doing, while reducing the taxes they pay here. The Treasury Department issued additional regulations last week and may announce further regulations in the future. But it is clear that Republicans in Congress need to join Democrats in stepping up to the plate to address this issue."
In January, Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin and Committee member Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) introduced the Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 2015, which broadly follows the proposal laid out by the President in his FY2015 budget. Assistant Democratic Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) introduced companion legislation in the Senate. The House bill would apply to inversions completed after May 8, 2014.
