[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1043 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1043

To require the United States Trade Representative to negotiate a remedy 
for the equitable border tax treatment on goods and services within the 
            WTO by January 1, 2010, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 14, 2009

  Mr. Graham introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the United States Trade Representative to negotiate a remedy 
for the equitable border tax treatment on goods and services within the 
            WTO by January 1, 2010, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Border Tax Fairness Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) United states trade negotiating goals relating to 
        equitable border tax treatment.--The term ``United States trade 
        negotiating goals relating to equitable border tax treatment'' 
        means--
                    (A) with respect to trade in goods, to obtain a 
                revision of the World Trade Organization rules with 
                respect to the treatment of border adjustments for 
                internal taxes to redress the disadvantage to countries 
                relying primarily on direct taxes rather than indirect 
                taxes for revenue, as provided in section 2102(b)(15) 
                of the Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2002 
                (19 U.S.C. 3802(b)(15)); and
                    (B) with respect to trade in services, to--
                            (i) eliminate the disadvantage in trade in 
                        services that exists for countries relying 
                        primarily on direct taxes that are not adjusted 
                        at the border rather than indirect taxes that 
                        are adjusted at the border; and
                            (ii) ensure that rules regarding trade in 
                        services do not result in disparate treatment 
                        of border adjustments for internal taxes based 
                        on the direct or indirect nature of such taxes.
            (2) WTO negotiations.--The term ``WTO negotiations'' means 
        any multilateral negotiations that may result in revisions to 
        WTO agreements that meet the United States trade negotiating 
        goals relating to equitable border tax treatment.
            (3) WTO.--The term ``WTO'' means the World Trade 
        Organization established pursuant to the WTO Agreement.
            (4) WTO agreement.--The term ``WTO Agreement'' means the 
        Agreement Establishing The World Trade Organization entered 
        into on April 15, 1994.

SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT FOR NEGOTIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the United States Trade Representative shall 
pursue WTO negotiations to meet the United States trade negotiating 
goals relating to equitable border tax treatment and shall submit a 
report on whether the United States trade negotiating goals relating to 
equitable border tax treatment have been met in revising the WTO rules. 
The report shall be submitted to the Committee on Finance of the Senate 
and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives not 
later than the earlier of--
            (1) 60 days after completing WTO negotiations; or
            (2) January 1, 2010.
    (b) Content of Report; Legislative Recommendations.--The report 
required by subsection (a) shall describe the negotiations regarding 
meeting United States trade negotiating goals relating to equitable 
border tax treatment and how the goals have been accomplished. If the 
goals with respect to trade in goods or trade in services have not met, 
the report shall include recommendations for legislation to address the 
equitable border tax treatment for goods or services, as the case may 
be. The legislative recommendation shall also include--
            (1) recommendations for imposing a tax on imports from any 
        country that employs indirect taxes; and
            (2) recommendations for compensatory payments to eligible 
        United States exporters to neutralize the discriminatory effect 
        of border taxes paid by such exporters.
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