Firms Fight Overseas Tax Changes Worth Billions

Last year's sheltered earnings could have brought US $20B

By Matt Cantor

Posted Apr 22, 2009 11:10 AM CDT

Copied

Firms Fight Overseas Tax Changes Worth Billions — Jeffrey Kindler, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, speaks at a news conference Jan. 26, 2009 in New York. Overseas sheltering cut Pfizer's effective tax rate by some 20% last year, the Journal says. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Overseas tax reform plans in the works under President Obama would put a serious squeeze on top firms, which under current law can store foreign income abroad indefinitely, reports the Wall Street Journal. Ten of the biggest companies earned $58 billion in 2008 that’s now sheltered overseas—money that could bring $20 billion in tax revenue.

The administration is hoping a change in the law could pull in some $210 billion between 2011 and 2019, and Obama’s 2011 budget calls for “reform.” But 200 firms have written to Congress opposing the move. “This one hits the bottom line of companies more than any other issue right now,” said a tech lobbyist. "We have to defeat it."
(More President Obama stories.)

Report an error