Ron Johnson

So you did not stuff any kind of tax savings in a mattress or a pillow case. I mean, you actually put that to use----

There is nothing nefarious in trying to minimize that tax burden?

I kind of view--and this is just my assumption, that CSARL in Geneva is kind of a headquarters, with a limited headcount.

I just think it is extremely important for people to understand really how our tax code operates.

Why don't we lower the corporate income tax if we want businesses to stay here?

There is nothing wrong with any taxpayer trying to comply with the tax code and trying to lower their tax burden, correct?

Can you talk a little bit about tax avoidance versus tax evasion?

If Caterpillar is doing something wrong, the proper venue would be a court of law, tax court, and have the IRS adjudicate this thing, not Congress.

Which probably, if we do this, would be exactly what large corporations like Caterpillar would do.

So we can change that law, we can change that reality, and then companies like Caterpillar will start manufacturing overseas.

I would like to scrap the current tax code. I would like to just raise the revenue we need and stop economic and social engineering through the tax code.

Let us keep American companies American. Let us try and incentivize investment of global companies into America.

Would you say what happened to Arthur Andersen, which no longer exists because of the Enron scandal, is that something that in general disciplines the accounting profession?

They are paying 29 percent effective rate, are they not?

Are you specifically aware of any maybe large contracts you have lost and potentially believe that it was because of our uncompetitive tax system?

Let us say we were able to pass a law here and capture a bigger share of Caterpillar's income.

In multinationals, that is a pretty high effective tax rate, correct?

My experience with the IRS is they are pretty detailed, and they ask a lot of pretty good questions.

We should be giving an award to an American business that creates 52,000 jobs.

Do you think this is basically what accountants do in working with their clients to comply with the tax code?

Being relatively new to this process here, not having been watching it for decades, this gets confusing very quickly.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Right now it seems to me like we are erring on the side of limited liability protection or no liability protection.

I know we can work together, and I plan to get that done with your help. We need your help.

But, again, businesses have to feel comfortable to share that information. Isn't liability protection a big problem in terms of businesses not being willing to share that?