When it Comes to Tax Laws, the Issue is Competitiveness

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By Alliance for Competitive Taxation, Special for USDR.

This week, a coalition of 42 leading American businesses that employ millions of American workers announced the launch of the Alliance for Competitive Taxation (ACT) to advocate for bipartisan, comprehensive tax reform.

ACT members believe that the United States needs a modern tax code that unleashes the power of America’s economy to create jobs, increase growth, encourage businesses to invest in the U.S., and let American companies – large and small – compete in today’s global economy. ACT understands that it is going to take collaboration and compromise on our part to update the broken U.S. tax system, which was last reformed in 1986 and is filled with outdated rules that penalize American businesses and workers.

ACT members support comprehensive tax reform that lowers the corporate tax rate to 25% and establishes a modern globally competitive tax system that aligns the United States with the rest of the world. We believe tax reform should simplify the tax code, promote economic growth, and be fully paid for by ending tax breaks and preferences so that not one dime is added to the deficit.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin , the former Director of the Congressional Budget Office and current President of American Action Forum, and Laura Tyson , the former Chair of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers and current professor at the University of California, Berkeley, will serve as economic advisors to the coalition.

“America’s tax system is outdated, overly complicated, gets in the way of creating jobs, and puts American businesses at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace. High business tax rates and an international system that hurts jobs and discourages investment in the U.S. put our system years behind those of our global competitors. It needs to be fixed,” saidDouglas Holtz-Eakin , ACT Economic Advisor, President of the American Action Forum, and former Director of the Congressional Budget Office.

“Our top national priority should be growing our economy and creating well-paying jobs. But our current corporate tax system is standing in the way. We need comprehensive revenue-neutral corporate tax reform to boost investment, productivity, and job creation in the U.S. and to strengthen the competitiveness of U.S. businesses in the global economy,” said Laura Tyson , ACT Economic Advisor and former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.

ACT members support a globally competitive tax system that:

Reduces the top corporate tax rate to 25%;
- Fully pays for a reduction in the corporate tax rate by ending corporate tax breaks and preferences;
Joins the international community by adopting a modern globally competitive tax system that puts American companies on a level global playing field; and
- Fully pays for the cost of a globally competitive tax system through a balanced approach that protects the U.S. tax base.

We believe all revenues raised from corporate reform should be dedicated to achieving these objectives and that taxes should not be increased on small businesses to pay for corporate tax reform.

ACT members want to accomplish comprehensive tax reform that:

Grows our economy;
Is fair and doesn’t add a dime to the deficit;
Protects and creates American jobs;
Simplifies the tax system for all businesses – large and small;
Ends corporate tax breaks and preferences;
Lowers the corporate tax rate to 25% to compete with the rest of the world;
Modernizes our international tax system to make American businesses more competitive in the global marketplace;
Supports domestic investment by eliminating barriers to growth.

Members of ACT are:

Abbott
Alcoa Inc.
Bank of America Corp.
Boston Scientific Corp.
Caterpillar Inc.
Cisco Systems, Inc.
The Coca-Cola Company
Dell Inc.
The Dow Chemical Company
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
Eli Lilly and Company
EMC Corporation
Emerson Electric
FedEx Corporation
General Electric Company
General Mills Inc .
Google Inc.
Honeywell International Inc.
Intel Corporation
International Business Machines Corporation
International Paper Company
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson Controls, Inc.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Kellogg Company
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
McCormick & Company, Inc.
McGraw Hill Financial Inc.
Morgan Stanley
NIKE, Inc.
Oracle Corporation
PepsiCo, Inc.
Pfizer Inc.
The Procter & Gamble Company
Prudential Financial Inc.
QUALCOMM, Inc.
State Street Corporation
Texas Instruments Incorporated
United Parcel Service Inc.
United Technologies Corporation
Verizon Communications Inc.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.