We have already documented the many ways the Republican tax bill is bad for working people. In short, it's a massive giveaway to big corporations and the wealthy that throws away trillions of dollars we need to invest in America and create good jobs for working people.
This week, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) organized an event to take a deeper look at how the new law will preserve and create incentives for corporations to move U.S. jobs overseas and shift corporate profits to tax havens abroad.
Professor Kimberly Clausing of Reed College and Law Professor Rebecca Kysar of Brooklyn Law School outlined the following problems:
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The GOP tax bill unnecessarily creates new incentives to move tangible assets offshore.
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The new law largely preserves and even encourages the shifting of U.S. profits offshore and makes the United States the least desirable place to book income.
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The new law’s “territorial tax system” (meaning ordinary offshore profits are not taxed) loses revenue, and the international provisions as a whole lose revenue.
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Other provisions of the GOP tax law are confusing and befuddle top experts and practitioners, and may not be sustainable.
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The overall legislation is regressive despite 35 years of increasing inequality.
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The overall legislation contains vast new sources of complexity and uncertainty.
At the event, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said:
The majority's tax law actually encourages companies to export jobs. It creates a lower rate for multinational corporations to invest abroad....People need to know about the tax law's outsourcing provision and the perverse incentives in the law that rig the benefits and the economy against middle-class families.
Legislation has been proposed to fix the outsourcing provisions of the tax bill. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) have introduced the “No Tax Breaks for Outsourcing Act.” Separately, DeLauro has introduced the “Close Tax Loopholes That Outsource American Jobs Act.”