Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation
For Immediate Release
Monday, April 11, 2011
202-285-0244
www.freedomandprosperity.org
New CF&P Video Spotlights Risky IRS
Scheme that Would Discourage Foreign
Investment and Harm U.S. Banks by Putting
Foreign Tax Law above American Tax Law
(Washington, D.C., Monday, April 11, 2011) A new video released today by the Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation (CF&P) exposes a dangerous IRS proposal that would have disturbing ramifications for the US economy. Entitled, “The IRS Running Amok: Bureaucrats Want to Force Americans Banks to Put Foreign Tax Law Above U.S. Tax Law,” the video details how this rogue regulation would drive foreign capital from U.S. markets, harm American financial institutions, and endanger human rights.
Narrated by Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute, the video explains the dangers resulting from a proposal (REG-146097-09) to require the reporting of interest paid to nonresident aliens with bank accounts in the United States. A retread of a rejected Clinton-era proposal, the regulation is designed to help foreign governments tax U.S.-source income.
Yet Congress repeatedly has specifically chosen not to target such deposits in order to keep the U.S. competitive in global financial markets. Imposing an information-reporting requirement surely would lead to an exodus of capital from American financial institutions – particularly for the many foreigners that are seeking protection from corrupt and tyrannical governments.
The video highlights five key reasons why the regulation is reckless and misguided:
- The IRS is flouting the law
- The IRS has failed to produce a cost-benefit analysis as required by Executive Order
- The IRS regulation would hurt the American economy
- The IRS regulation will undermine the financial sector
- The IRS regulation undermines human rights
Links to the video: YouTube | Dailymotion | Blip.TV
“The IRS apparently has decided that the law does not apply to them,” said CF&P Foundation President Andrew Quinlan. “The last time they tried this end-run around Congress and the law, they were met with overwhelming opposition. We intend to ensure that happens again,” he concluded.
Dan Mitchell, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, noted that “It is astonishing that the IRS is pushing a regulation that will discourage foreign investment.” He further noted that, “The bureaucrats want to hamstring America’s economy for no reason other than to help foreign governments impose bad policy.”
Executive Summary
- Even though it violates existing law, the IRS is seeking to impose a regulation that will discourage foreign investment in the U.S. economy and undermine the competitiveness of American banks. This CF&P videos provides five reasons why this proposal is misguided, including the risk to innocent people living under corrupt and tyrannical governments.
CF&P Foundation has also released more than three-dozen mini-documentaries since 2007. These videos include Tax Competition Primer, VAT-Hidden Tax, Global Flat Tax Revolution, Cutting the U.S. Corporate Income Tax, Promoting Prosperity, Obama’s So-Called Stimulus, Obama’s Deferral Proposal, Case Against Class-Warfare Tax Policy, President Obama’s Dishonest Demagoguery on Tax Havens, Six Reasons Why the Capital Gains Tax Should Be Abolished, The Rahn Curve and the Growth-Maximizing Level of Government, a three part series on the Benefits of Tax Havens and a another three-part series on the Laffer Curve.
Link: http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/videos/videos.shtml
Web Links:
YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPVVoqDkLHw
Blip.TV
http://blip.tv/file/5002685
For additional comments:
Andrew Quinlan can be reached at 202-285-0244, andy@freedomandprosperity.org
Dan Mitchell can be reached at 202-218-4615, dmitchell@cato.org
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