WASHINGTON, DC - Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today released the following statement after the U.S. Treasury Department took steps to further limit corporate tax inversions and address the use of earnings stripping by U.S. corporations:
“Today's announcement shows that the Administration remains committed to stopping tax-motivated inversions by U.S. corporations. It’s past time for Republicans in Congress to show the same commitment. Today’s announcement by the Treasury Department would make it more difficult for companies to engage in earnings stripping, something Rep. Van Hollen and I also addressed in legislation we introduced in February. As Secretary Lew repeated yet again, Treasury can only go so far - Congress must act now to stop inversions once and for all."
In February, Rep. Levin and House Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced legislation - the Stop Corporate Earnings Stripping Act - to reduce the number of tax inversions by limiting the use of “earnings stripping" - a common strategy used by foreign-controlled inverted corporations to lower their U.S. taxes.
Rep. Levin and other House Democrats also previously introduced legislation - the Stop Corporate Inversions Act ( H.R. 4679 in 2014, H.R. 415 in 2015) - to amend Section 7874 of the tax code to tighten restrictions on inversions. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the legislation would save the U.S. tax base nearly $41 billion over 10 years.
