US Lawmakers Push Tax Reform After EU Action

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

01 February 2016

House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R – Texas) and the Chairman of the Tax Policy Subcommittee, Charles Boustany (R – Louisiana), have urged the need for US international tax reform in response to the European Commission's anti-tax avoidance package on January 28.

"It is clear that the European Union is moving full speed ahead to implement the OECD's base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project recommendations that will make it even harder for American companies to compete in the global market," Brady commented.

"This demonstrates once again why we must move forward immediately with international tax reform," he added. "Our Committee is working to make it easier for American companies to invest at home, compete abroad, and create more jobs for our workers."

Boustany, who introduced the Bad Exchange Prevention Act into the House in December last year, which would delay country-by-country reporting requirements for US companies, said: "Despite significant concerns that have been raised about the fairness of the OECD's BEPS project for American businesses, the EU is moving forward anyway. We must be doing more to ensure American companies are able to compete in the global marketplace, not slanting the playing field against them."

He also confirmed that he "will work with Chairman Brady to pursue international tax reform that makes it easier for American companies to invest, grow, and succeed both at home and abroad."

The EC's ongoing state aid investigations have already prompted a letter from senior US Senate Finance Committee members to the US Administration. They warned that the state aid recovery rulings in these probes would represent "retroactive taxation on multinational enterprises and have an adverse impact on US-based companies." The EC has now issued a package of additional measures, including the introduction of an Anti Tax Avoidance Directive, which would add legally binding anti-abuse measures that all member states would be required to apply to tackle "aggressive" tax planning.

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