Washington DC– The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) joined with other leading business organizations today in sending a letter to President Obama urging him to support tax policies in his discussions at the upcoming G-8 meeting that would improve the worldwide competitiveness of American businesses, increase economic growth and provide for sustained job creation.
The groups wrote:
“… Other countries around the world are promoting the international competitiveness of their companies and creating jobs by adopting modern tax laws that enhance the ability of their locally-headquartered companies to serve foreign markets. At the same time, however, recent tax initiatives in a number of foreign countries, including several of our G-8 partners, appear to be primarily targeting American companies with global operations in the guise of combating tax avoidance, potentially harming both the U.S. companies’ competitive position and the U.S. Treasury. Similar discussions are now proceeding at European Commission and OECD levels as well, revisiting the current international tax consensus and prompting much interest from large emerging economies also seeking additional tax revenues from foreign businesses.
“Any changes that discriminate against American companies doing business abroad would make it more difficult for them to compete in the world’s markets and hamper their ability to grow and add jobs in the United States. It is vital to the health of the U.S. economy that American businesses remain free of international double taxation and similar barriers to cross-border trade and investment and are not subjected to new tax rules and policies that would create new disadvantages. Therefore, it is imperative that the current international tax policy discussions focus on promoting international tax rules that are stable, predictable, nondiscriminatory, and administrable. The rules should not include onerous public disclosure requirements, but should instead focus on possible improvements to transparency with tax authorities where appropriate. They should aim to develop best practices and principled international tax policies that apply equally to all companies. A growth-focused approach that ensures a level playing field is essential.”
In addition to the NFTC, the letter was signed by Business Roundtable, Financial Executives International, Information Technology Industry Council, National Association of Manufacturers, Software Finance & Tax Executives Council, TechAmerica, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and United States Council on International Business.
To read the full letter, click
here.
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About the NFTC
Advancing Global Commerce for Nearly A Century- The National Foreign Trade Council (www.nftc.org) is a leading business organization advocating an open, rules- based global trading system. Founded in 1914 by a broad-based group of American companies, the NFTC now serves hundreds of member companies through its offices in Washington and New York.
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