U.S. Repatriation Tax Lobbying Campaign Said to Disband

That's a headline from Bloomberg, with a remarkable story:

A lobbying coalition seeking a tax holiday for repatriating offshore profits ended its campaign amid bipartisan congressional reluctance after spending more than a year and $760,000 on the effort.
. . .
The technology-heavy group of multinational corporations that backed the repatriation holiday tried to use its lobbying muscle and support from lawmakers in both parties to secure a tax break. The effort fizzled as some Republicans focused on permanent tax policy and Democrats warned of the potential revenue loss.

The group wanted Congress to reprise a 2004 tax holiday that let companies bring home offshore profits at a discount. Critics, including the Obama administration, said the proposal would cost the government money, encourage companies to move profits offshore and undermine efforts to overhaul the U.S. tax code."

We are delighted to see this. And we should congratulate the FACT coalition, of which TJN-USA is a leading member, for bringing much needed attention to the lobbying, and for helping explain why it was such a bad idea. One internal FACT email today put it simply:

"We foxed 'em. Now time to seize the initiative on ending MNC transfer pricing abuses, getting a millionaires' tax, halting the global corp tax rate war, toughening up reporting of interest income paid to NRAs, and cracking down on offshore havens. Is that list long enough?"

Er, not quite. But it's a good start.