Political Quotes

“this amendment is bad policy from top to bottom. If enacted, it would hurt U.S. companies and destroy jobs. It is, I am afraid, motivated more by political considerations than anything else. Under generally accepted tax principles in the United States and around the world, income is taxed when it is realized by a taxpayer. When income is earned but not received until some future date--say, for example, income in a pension plan or an individual retirement account-- then taxation is normally deferred. Eliminating or even limiting deferrals would put American companies at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace. This amendment does not--as it purports to do--eliminate a privilege; rather, it imposes a penalty, and a severe one at that. It will not increase revenues for the U.S. Treasury. It will, however, hurt American companies that are trying both to run their day-to-day operations and to compete with foreign businesses. What does this amendment do? It assumes that allowing U.S. multinationals to defer taxes on the income of their foreign subsidiaries is a tax break. That is a false assumption, because deferring only means that taxes are not due until the time that income has actually been received, or in the case of multinationals, repatriated back to the U.S. parent company. This amendment not only taxes income before it is realized, it carries with it the potential to tax income that is never realized at all.”