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ITIF Event: Stimulus and Investment Effects of Temporary Reduced Taxes on Repatriation

Under current tax law, U.S. companies can defer the U.S. tax on the profits earned by their foreign-based subsidiaries until they transfer those profits back to the parent company here in the United States. The result is that some $1 trillion in the profits of U.S. companies remain abroad, especially profits earned in countries with low tax rates. Much of those profits are invested in foreign money instruments, and some are used for additional foreign direct investment – and most of them stay abroad indefinitely, providing a boon to foreign economies. But they could provide substantial economic stimulus for our own economy today, if we could induce companies to repatriate them. In their new report, Robert Shapiro and Aparna Mathur analyze the impact of temporarily reducing the U.S. tax on repatriated profits on U.S. jobs, capital investment, and the financial squeeze. As the economy continues to struggle, Drs. Shapiro and Mathur show how repatriation could be a cost-free way of stimulating the economy.

Please join us for an event to discuss this new report and repatriation proposals and what provisions are most important to ensuring the greatest possible economic impact.

Date: Friday, January 30, 2009
Time: 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Place: Capitol building, Room SC-4

Moderator

Robert Atkinson, President, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

Presenter

Robert Shapiro, Chairman and Co-founder, Sonecon, LLC and former Undersecretary, U.S. Department of Commerce

Respondent

Gary Hufbauer, Reginald Jones Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics

Read the full text of the report.

Audio and Video

Download audio (MP3)