[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2008 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2008

To prohibit United States assistance for Afghanistan unless the United 
States and Afghanistan enter into a bilateral agreement which provides 
  that work performed in Afghanistan by United States contractors is 
         exempt from taxation by the Government of Afghanistan.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 15, 2013

  Mr. Welch introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit United States assistance for Afghanistan unless the United 
States and Afghanistan enter into a bilateral agreement which provides 
  that work performed in Afghanistan by United States contractors is 
         exempt from taxation by the Government of Afghanistan.

    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 ``Stop Taxing American Assistance to 
Afghanistan Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE FOR AFGHANISTAN UNLESS 
              WORK PERFORMED IN AFGHANISTAN BY UNITED STATES 
              CONTRACTORS IS EXEMPT FROM TAXATION.

    (a) Prohibition.--No funds made available to carry out the Foreign 
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) or any other Act may be 
made available to provide assistance for Afghanistan unless the 
President certifies to Congress that a bilateral agreement between the 
United States and Afghanistan is in effect which provides that work 
performed in Afghanistan under a contract in Afghanistan is exempt from 
taxation by the Government of Afghanistan. The prohibition on 
assistance under this subsection shall not apply with respect to a 
contract under which the contractor or subcontractor is not a national 
of the United States or a contract involving commercial operations of 
United States diplomatic missions in Afghanistan.
    (b) Waiver.--The President may waive the prohibition on assistance 
under subsection (a) on a case-by-case basis if the President 
determines and certifies to Congress that it is in the national 
interests of the United States to do so.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Contract in afghanistan.--The term ``contract in 
        Afghanistan'' has the meaning given the term ``contract in Iraq 
        or Afghanistan'' in section 864(a)(2) of the National Defense 
        Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 110-181; 10 
        U.S.C. 2302 note), except that each reference in such section 
        to ``or Iraq'' is deemed to be deleted.
            (2) Government of afghanistan.--
                    (A) In general.--The term ``Government of 
                Afghanistan'' includes the government of any political 
                subdivision of Afghanistan, and any agency or 
                instrumentality of the Government of Afghanistan.
                    (B) Agency or instrumentality.--For purposes of 
                subparagraph (A), the term ``agency or instrumentality 
                of the Government of Afghanistan'' means an agency or 
                instrumentality of a foreign state as defined in 
                section 1603(b) of title 28, United States Code, with 
                each reference in such section to ``a foreign state'' 
                deemed to be a reference to ``Afghanistan''.
    (d) Effective Date.--This section shall take effect on the date of 
the enactment of this Act and shall apply with respect to funds made 
available to carry out the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or any other 
Act for fiscal year 2014 and subsequent fiscal years.
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