“As a coalition led by Apple Inc., Google Inc., and Cisco Systems Inc presses for a tax holiday on more than $1 trillion in offshore profits, it is turning to a well-positioned lobbyist: Jeffrey Forbes, once chief of staff to Max Baucus, chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee,” Richard Rubin and Jesse Drucker report for Bloomberg.
“Data compiled by Bloomberg News show that Forbes is part of an army of more than 160 lobbyists, including at least 60 who once worked for a sitting member of the House or Senate, pushing for the repatriation holiday,” Rubin and Drucker report. “Their job is to persuade Congress to establish a tax break estimated to cost the U.S. government $78.7 billion over the next decade.”
“Though the studies found that money brought home in 2004 ended up benefiting a narrow set of shareholders, support is growing in Congress for the tax holiday as companies expand their roster of lobbyists,” Rubin and Drucker report. “One case they are making is that the potential flood of cash will boost the faltering U.S. economy. Advocates for the break say a repatriation holiday would bring more than $1 trillion to the U.S. now held overseas. ‘It would do much to regenerate the economy,’ said Robert Livingston, a former Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and speaker-designate who is now lobbying for Oracle Corp. ‘A total of $1.5 trillion from all affected U.S. companies would go a long way to pull us out of the doldrums.'”
Rubin and Drucker report, “The proposed break has gained momentum in recent months, with several prominent Democrats, including Senator Charles Schumer of New York, expressing a willingness to consider the tax holiday. Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidates Michele Bachmann, a House member from Minnesota, and Texas Governor Rick Perry have called on Congress to let companies bring home offshore earnings at a reduced tax rate. The Obama administration has said it is opposed to a stand- alone tax holiday for repatriated profits, pointing to the 2004 experience.”
Read more in the full article here.
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