Rep. Doggett Statement on Republicans' So-Called 'Growth' Agenda

Background on the temporary tax holiday:

In general, income earned byU.S. companies in theUnited States is taxed currently while income earned abroad is only subject toU.S. taxes when it is "repatriated" back to theUnited States. This system provides obvious incentives to avoid paying current taxes by investing offshore and creating jobs overseas instead of inAmerica. After shifting this money offshore, multinational corporations continually seek ways to bring their foreign profits home without paying their fair share ofU.S. taxes.

In 2004, corporate lobbyists convinced Congress to allow multinationals to temporarily bring offshore profits back into theU.S. paying only a 5.25% corporate tax rate. The claims then were the same as now—give us this tax break and we will invest the repatriated profits here and create jobs. Unfortunately, job creation did not happen last time and it won't happen now. Money is fungible and efforts to tie repatriated funds to new investment and hiring failed. The evidence shows that the corporate tax holiday was mainly used for stock repurchases and dividends—uses expressly prohibited by the legislation.

The Joint Committee estimates that repeating the tax break will ultimately cost taxpayers $78.7 billion. You can view the Joint Committee on TAxation's full response to Mr. Doggett's revenue request by clicking here.