[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 79 (Friday, May 12, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1030]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            INTRODUCTION OF COME HOME, CORPORATE AMERICA BILL

                                 ______


                          HON. BERNARD SANDERS

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 12, 1995
  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, did you know that investment by U.S.-based 
multinational corporations abroad rose by 7.2 percent to a total of 
$716.2 billion in 1993 and increased at an even faster rate in the 
first half of 1994?
  Stop and think about the jobs and economic growth that would have 
been generated here in the United States of America if that investment 
capital had been plowed into rebuilding our Nation instead of boosting 
offshore competition and production.
  It is time for Uncle Sam to help redirect much more of our Nation's 
limited investment capital into providing good-paying jobs for 
Americans here at home.
  The best place to start is by eliminating various special interest 
tax breaks and subsidies that reward U.S. companies for investing 
abroad rather than in the United States and that add tens of billions 
to our Federal deficit every year. Currently Federal tax and spending 
policies actually favor overseas investment by U.S.-based multinational 
corporations in many ways, instead of rewarding domestic investment and 
job creation.
  That is why I have been joined by other members of the Progressive 
Caucus in sponsoring comprehensive legislation--The Come Home, 
Corporate America Bill--to cut the corporate welfare for U.S.-based 
multinational corporations that are busy hollowing out our Nation's 
production base, exporting good-paying U.S. Jobs, and bilking the 
American taxpayer all at the same time.
  My bill will cut the Federal deficit by $252 billion over the next 5 
years by wiping out assorted special interest tax loopholes and 
subsidies that have been handed out year after year to U.S.-based 
multinational corporations. These are the same companies that have 
turned their backs on millions of American working families whose hard 
work and personal allegiance has been instrumental in building these 
Fortune 500-type companies into economic powerhouses.
  Specifically, my bill will achieve major deficit reduction by cutting 
the following multinational corporate welfare:
  Abolishing the foreign tax credit;
  Eliminating tax deferral of income from controlled foreign 
corporations;
  Cracking down on transfer pricing, whereby multinational corporations 
arbitrarily allocate computed income among their operations in 
different countries;
  Eliminating special tax break that allows companies to exclude 15 
percent of their export income generated from special subsidiaries 
often created merely to claim and process the break;
  Repealing tax exemption from U.S. taxes for employees of 
multinational corporations regardless of whether or not that income is 
subject to foreign taxation. Companies often equalize tax liabilities 
so that their employees' after-tax income is the same, thus allowing 
the company to pad their profits;
  Abolishing the Overseas Private Investment Corporation [OPIC] which 
obligates the American taxpayer to insure and underwrite political risk 
insurance for companies to invest in scores of foreign countries;
  Cutting below-market loan subsidies and fees provided by the Export-
Import Bank for foreign purchasers to buy from U.S. companies;
  Eliminating tax loopholes allowing earnings stripping and intrafirm 
transfers that allow companies to inflate their deductible expenses;
  Abolishing exemption for foreign investors to avoid paying capital 
gains tax on the sale of their stock in U.S. corporations; and
  Repealing the exemption that allows foreign investors to avoid paying 
taxes on interest received on bonds issued in the United States.


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