US House Throws Out Anti-Bermuda Clause

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

24 July 2002

The Republican-dominated House of Representatives on Tuesday removed a Democrat-inspired amendment from a Treasury spending bill which would have penalised 'corporate inversion', ie the tax-driven departure of US companies for tax havens such as Bermuda, by denying them government contracts.

On a voice vote, the House took out the offshore tax item from the $35.1 billion spending bill for the Treasury and Postal agencies. It had been included by an Appropriations Committee vote of 41 to 17 two weeks when patriotic anti-corporate fervour was at its height.

Sponsored by Democrat Rosa DeLauro, the provision was originally envisaged as barring companies which have performed 'corporate inversions' - such as manufacturing company Stanley Works, or consulting firms PricewaterhouseCoopers and Accenture - from all federal contracts, although as drafted it might only have covered contracts from the Treasury Department, the Postal Service, and certain other federal agencies financed by the bill.

House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier defended the decision to eliminate the provision, saying that the House Ways and Means Committee is considering a broader bill to address the problem. He was referring to the American Competitiveness Bill of 2002, introduced by Bill Thomas, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which proposes that tax savings resulting from a company's move offshore should be deferred for five years. But the Thomas bill is so wide-ranging and has trodden on the toes of so many powerful special interests that it is not expected to make progress beyond the Committee.

An aide to Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass) said Democrats intend to insert similar amendments to other bills coming before the House this week - the last few days of legislative time before the summer recess.

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