Max Baucus: “I join the Ranking Republican Member of the Finance Committee, Senator Grassley, in introducing bipartisan legislation…”

“I join the Ranking Republican Member of the Finance Committee, Senator Grassley, in introducing bipartisan legislation to further address the increasing problem of U.S. corporations reincorporating to tax haven countries to avoid taxes, a practice also known as a corporate inversion. I am pleased to cosponsor the Reclaiming Expatriated Contracts and Profits, RECAP, Act which prohibits the most egregious inverted corporations from receiving Federal Government contracts. Last March, Senator Grassley and I announced our intention to introduce legislation to curb the proliferation of U.S. corporations changing their Articles of Incorporation to become a corporation of a foreign tax haven country. On April 11, 2002, we introduced legislation to address this problem. S. 2119, the Reversing the Expatriation of Profits Offshore, REPO, Act, was designed to put the brakes on the potential rush to move U.S. corporate headquarters to tax haven countries. On June 18, 2002, the Senate Finance Committee sent a strong message to corporate America by passing S. 2119 by unanimous vote. But the REPO Act was just the first step to curb inversions. Senator Wellstone led the effort to eliminate another incentive for these corporations by restricting them from qualification for government contracts. The idea is simple. If a corporation wants to, in essence, renounce their U.S. citizenship, then they shouldn't be entitled to compete for U.S. government contracts.”