Center for Freedom and Prosperity
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
202-285-0244
www.freedomandprosperity.org
Coalition Letter Urges Congress to
Defend U.S. Interests From BEPS Tax Grab
(Washington, D.C., Tuesday, July 14, 2015) The Center for Freedom and Prosperity (CF&P), joined by representatives from 21 other influential free market and taxpayer advocacy organizations, today sent an open letter warning Congress about the dangers posed to U.S. interests and the global economy by the work of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).
Link to the letter: http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/files/OECD/ctc-BEPS-2015-07-14.pdf
The coalition goes on to urge Congress to take an active role in the discussion over international corporate tax policy. Highlighting the long history of the OECD in supporting onerous tax burdens to fund big governments, the letter contends that the true goal of the BEPS project is to undermine tax competition and pave the way for higher taxes across the globe:
“Because the OECD is populated by tax collectors and finance ministers, new rules being drafted through the BEPS initiative are necessarily going to be skewed in their favor. Businesses are given only a token voice, while other interests are not considered at all. Consumers, employees, and everyone that benefits from global economic growth are not able to make their preferences known.”
CF&P President Andrew Quinlan said, “The OECD advances only the interests of global tax collectors, making its work on BEPS particularly dangerous.” He concluded, “No one is speaking up for U.S. businesses and taxpayers, which is why Congress must get involved.”
Cato Institute Senior Fellow and CF&P Chairman Dan Mitchell added, “Washington bizarrely sends about $100 million in taxpayer dollars to Paris every year to subsidize a bureaucracy that consistently seeks to impose higher tax burdens throughout the world. The least they can do is make sure that money isn’t being used to fund a tax grab aimed primarily at U.S. companies.”
Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist suggested, “Maybe European governments should make themselves attractive targets for capital rather than put tax bullseyes on U.S. companies.”
Pete Sepp, National Taxpayers Union President, said, “According to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, OECD’s recommendations for U.S. policymakers would already cost American taxpayers an extra $68 billion a year. Now with the BEPS project, businesses with perfectly legitimate overseas operations could be in for additional and costly suffering through heavier compliance burdens. Elected officials here have a special responsibility to protect their taxpayers from schemes like these, which impose uncompetitive tax rules from outside our borders.”
The coalition letter was signed by:
Andrew F. Quinlan ~ President, Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Grover Norquist ~ President, Americans for Tax Reform
Pete Sepp ~ President, National Taxpayers Union
Michael A. Needham ~ CEO, Heritage Action for America
Tom Schatz ~ President, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
Seton Motley ~ President, Less Government
Wayne Brough ~ Chief Economist and Vice President of Research, FreedomWorks
J. Bradley Jansen ~ Director, Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights
Phil Kerpen ~ President, American Commitment
David Williams ~ President, Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Bob Bauman ~ Chairman, Sovereign Society Freedom Alliance
Karen Kerrigan ~ President, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
Sabrina Schaeffer ~ Executive Director, Independent Women’s Forum
James L. Martin ~ Chairman, 60 Plus Association
Heather Higgins ~ President, Independent Women’s Voice
George Landrith ~ President, Frontiers of Freedom
Lew Uhler ~ President, National Tax Limitation Committee
Terrence Scanlon ~ President, Capital Research Center
Tom Giovanetti ~ President, Institute for Policy Innovation
Andrew Langer ~ President, Institute for Liberty
Eli Lehrer ~ President, R Street Institute
Chuck Muth ~ President, Citizen Outreach
For additional comments:
Andrew Quinlan can be reached at 202-285-0244, andy@freedomandprosperity.org
Brian Garst, Dir. of Policy and Communications, can be reached at bgarst@freedomandprosperity.org
###
