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RATE Coalition Urges Corporate Rate Cut

JUN. 19, 2013

RATE Coalition Urges Corporate Rate Cut

DATED JUN. 19, 2013
DOCUMENT ATTRIBUTES
  • Authors
    Coccagna, John
    Cappiello, Paul
    Fryt, Michael D.
    Ruzicka, Lawrence
    Zrust, Jim
    Dossin, Diane
    Weisz, Mark
    Dickel, Ronald D.
    Heywood, David A.
    Monfries, Wayne
    March, Mark
    Schichtel, Mark
    Van Saders, William P.
    Dewalt, Karen
    Rosenthaler, Albert
    Bernstein, Rachelle
    Sturgeon, Nancy G.
    Miller, Chris
    Lancaster, Don
    Buettner, Anne L.
  • Institutional Authors
    Reforming America's Taxes Equitably Coalition
    Altria Group Inc.
    Babcock & Wilcox
    FedEx Corporation
    AT&T Services Inc.
    Boeing Company
    Ford Motor Company
    Gap Inc.
    Intel Corporation
    Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Nike Inc.
    Time Warner Cable Inc.
    Raytheon Company
    Verizon Communications Inc.
    Home Depot
    Liberty Media Corporation
    National Retail Federation
    RAI Services Company
    T-Mobile USA Inc.
    United Parcel Service
    Walt Disney Company
  • Code Sections
  • Subject Area/Tax Topics
  • Jurisdictions
  • Language
    English
  • Tax Analysts Document Number
    Doc 2013-14893
  • Tax Analysts Electronic Citation
    2013 TNT 119-36

 

June 19, 2013

 

 

The Honorable Dave Camp

 

Chairman

 

House Committee on Ways and Means

 

United States House of Representatives

 

1102 Longworth House Office Building

 

Washington, DC 20515

 

 

The Honorable Sandy Levin

 

Ranking Member

 

House Committee on Ways and Means

 

United States House of Representatives

 

1102 Longworth House Office Building

 

Washington, DC 20515

 

 

The Honorable Max Baucus

 

Chairman

 

Senate Committee on Finance

 

United States Senate

 

219 Dirksen Senate Office Building

 

Washington, DC 20510

 

 

The Honorable Orrin Hatch

 

Ranking Member

 

Senate Committee on Finance

 

United States Senate

 

219 Dirksen Senate Office Building

 

Washington, DC 20510

 

 

Dear Chairmen Camp and Baucus and Ranking Members Levin and Hatch:

We are writing to urge you to act without delay to reform America's tax code by creating a system that is simpler and fairer for all businesses and substantially reduces America's 35 percent statutory corporate tax rate.

In our capacity as tax vice presidents and senior tax officers for some of the largest U.S. companies and employers, we're faced with the challenges of America's complicated tax code and burdensome tax rate. The tax code is littered with preferences that pertain to only certain industries while simultaneously imposing a tax rate that overly burdens businesses large and small. In the end, our outdated, overcomplicated tax code and high rate limit the ability of American companies to invest, hire and grow business in the United States, thereby making U.S. companies less competitive in the global marketplace while stifling economic growth here at home. The high statutory tax rate also acts to discourage foreign investment in the United States further reducing the potential for economic and job growth.

Over the past 25 years, many OECD countries have significantly reduced their rates to lure business and jobs. A weakened global economy has done nothing to reverse this trend. In fact, U.S competitors such as Sweden, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom have recently enacted measures that will result in significantly lower rates and simpler systems. For over a year, America's 35 percent federal rate has ranked as the highest in the OECD. Add to it state taxes and the corporate rate is near 40 percent.

The negative effects of standing still are clear. According to a recent Ernst & Young study, U.S. GDP in 2013 is expected to be between 1.2 and 2.0 percent lower as a result of our OECD-leading corporate tax rate. These foregone resources could be used to make further investments in the economy. Additionally, American workers will continue to feel the pinch in their paychecks as a result of our uncompetitive tax system. Over the long term, U.S. wages will be depressed by 1.2 percent as other countries seek to lower their corporate tax rates. The American economy, American business and American workers can no longer afford our tax system. It is outdated, unfair and in desperate need of reform -- this year.

For these reasons, we write to you today as part of the RATE (Reforming America's Taxes Equitably) Coalition, a bipartisan group of 31 businesses and associations representing nearly one-third of all U.S. jobs that is committed to reforming our tax code and substantially reducing the federal corporate tax rate in order to improve America's global competitiveness. While many of our companies are able to utilize existing tax preferences included in the current tax code, we believe that America would benefit from a system that treats everyone the same -- a system with a substantially lower statutory corporate tax rate that is applied fairly to all companies across all industries.

Our companies understand that such an approach may require some businesses to pay a little more and some to pay a little less, and that nearly all businesses will need to forgo certain provisions that are in place today. As members of the RATE Coalition, our companies collectively recognize that base-broadeners, such as the elimination of tax expenditures, may be required in order to achieve a corporate tax rate that is globally competitive, supports U.S. economic growth and is equitable to all U.S. businesses.

Over the last year -- in large part because of the diligent work of your respective committees -- momentum in Congress for tax reform has grown. However, with debate on raising the debt limit looming this fall and 2014 political activities just a few short months away, time is limited and action on tax reform is needed immediately. American businesses -- and the American public -- are united in a desire to see comprehensive tax reform implemented this year. Our companies stand with Congress to support you in making the tough decisions that will be required to make real tax reform a reality.

Thank you for your consideration of this important matter.

Sincerely,

 

 

John Coccagna

 

Vice President, Corporate Taxes

 

Altria Group, Inc.

 

 

Paul Cappiello

 

Vice President of Tax

 

Babcock & Wilcox

 

 

Michael D. Fryt

 

Corporate Vice President, Tax

 

FedEx Corporation

 

 

Lawrence Ruzicka

 

Senior Vice President -- Tax

 

AT&T Services, Inc.

 

 

Jim Zrust

 

Vice President, Tax

 

The Boeing Company

 

 

Diane Dossin

 

Chief Tax Officer

 

Ford Motor Company

 

 

Mark Weisz

 

Vice President

 

Gap Inc.

 

 

Ronald D. Dickel

 

Vice President Global Tax and

 

Trade

 

Intel Corporation

 

 

David A. Heywood

 

Vice President, Taxes & General

 

Tax Counsel

 

Lockheed Martin Corporation

 

 

Wayne Monfries

 

Vice President & Chief Tax Officer

 

NIKE Inc.

 

 

Mark March

 

Vice President, Tax

 

Raytheon Company

 

 

Mark Schichtel

 

Senior Vice President and Chief

 

Tax Officer

 

Time Warner Cable Inc.

 

 

William P. Van Saders

 

Senior Vice President and Deputy

 

General Counsel -- Corporate Taxes

 

Verizon Communications Inc.

 

 

Karen Dewalt

 

Vice President, Tax

 

The Home Depot

 

 

Albert Rosenthaler

 

Senior Vice President

 

Liberty Media Corporation

 

 

Rachelle Bernstein

 

Vice President, Tax Counsel

 

National Retail Federation

 

 

Nancy G. Sturgeon

 

Vice President Tax & Asst.

 

Gen Counsel

 

RAI Services Company

 

 

Chris Miller

 

Vice President of Tax

 

T-Mobile USA, Inc.

 

 

Don Lancaster

 

Vice President of Tax

 

United Parcel Service

 

 

Anne Buettner

 

Senior Vice President -- Corporate

 

Tax

 

The Walt Disney Company

 

 

Reforming America's Taxes Equitably

 

Washington, DC

 

cc:

 

House Speaker John Boehner

 

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

 

Members of House Committee on Ways & Means

 

Members of the Senate Finance Committee
DOCUMENT ATTRIBUTES
  • Authors
    Coccagna, John
    Cappiello, Paul
    Fryt, Michael D.
    Ruzicka, Lawrence
    Zrust, Jim
    Dossin, Diane
    Weisz, Mark
    Dickel, Ronald D.
    Heywood, David A.
    Monfries, Wayne
    March, Mark
    Schichtel, Mark
    Van Saders, William P.
    Dewalt, Karen
    Rosenthaler, Albert
    Bernstein, Rachelle
    Sturgeon, Nancy G.
    Miller, Chris
    Lancaster, Don
    Buettner, Anne L.
  • Institutional Authors
    Reforming America's Taxes Equitably Coalition
    Altria Group Inc.
    Babcock & Wilcox
    FedEx Corporation
    AT&T Services Inc.
    Boeing Company
    Ford Motor Company
    Gap Inc.
    Intel Corporation
    Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Nike Inc.
    Time Warner Cable Inc.
    Raytheon Company
    Verizon Communications Inc.
    Home Depot
    Liberty Media Corporation
    National Retail Federation
    RAI Services Company
    T-Mobile USA Inc.
    United Parcel Service
    Walt Disney Company
  • Code Sections
  • Subject Area/Tax Topics
  • Jurisdictions
  • Language
    English
  • Tax Analysts Document Number
    Doc 2013-14893
  • Tax Analysts Electronic Citation
    2013 TNT 119-36
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