Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) today opposed a procedural motion on legislation that further complicates our nation's tax code. The legislation would use the tax code to penalize American businesses expanding operations overseas without actually addressing the real problem: American businesses face the highest corporate tax rate in the world. A motion to proceed to the bill, which needed 60 votes to pass, failed 56-42.
"This legislation misses the forest because of the trees," Johanns said. "Instead of creating carve outs and imposing penalties, Congress must reform, modernize and simplify our tax code for businesses and American families. Having the highest corporate tax rate in the world hurts our competitiveness abroad, encourages businesses to move overseas and forces them to send more money to Washington instead of using it to hire Americans looking for work."
The legislation, S. 3364, introduced by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) would provide a tax credit for 20 percent of the business expenses associated with eliminating a business operation in a foreign country and moving the operation to the United States. The bill, however, would do nothing to address the fact the U.S. currently has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. This poses another hurdle to American businesses wishing to expand.
Johanns introduced the Restoring American's Competitiveness in Enterprise (RACE) Act last year to bring our nation's corporate tax rate in line with the rest of the world, setting it at a maximum of 20 percent, thus creating a more competitive business environment.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said prior to the vote that amendments would not be allowed to the Stabenow legislation, therefore preemptively shutting down any attempts to improve the bill or address the serious fiscal problems currently facing our country.