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Federal Legislation & Regulation
Rail News: Federal Legislation & Regulation
9/22/2011
Rail News: Federal Legislation & Regulation
AAR's Hamberger joins 10 other CEOs in call for federal tax reforms
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On Tuesday, chief executive officers from 11 major U.S. businesses and trade associations sent a letter to President Obama and members of Congress calling for federal tax system reforms to “compete globally, promote economic growth and create U.S. jobs.”
The CEOs — who are members of the RATE (Reducing America's Taxes Equitably) Coalition — include Association of American Railroads President and CEO Ed Hamberger, and top execs from Altria Client Services, AT&T, Boeing, FedEx, Lockheed Martin, the National Retail Federation, Time Warner Cable, United Parcel Service, Verizon and Walt Disney.
“It has been 25 years since the last comprehensive tax reform was accomplished. Since then, other countries’ tax systems have changed dramatically, and not to our benefit,” the CEOs wrote in the letter. “Other [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] countries have lowered statutory tax rates while the U.S. rate remained relatively constant, resulting in an uncompetitive tax environment that discourages investment and job creation here at home.”
A lower U.S. corporate tax rate would provide “critical benefits” to the U.S. economy, most importantly by boosting investment in the nation, “bringing more American jobs, innovation and growth,” they wrote.
“We believe the cornerstone of reform must be a significantly lower statutory corporate tax rate, which is why we have formed the RATE Coalition, [which] is made up of like-minded businesses with the purpose of advocating for sound and equitable reforms to the federal tax code that would reduce the corporate tax rate in order to restore the competitiveness of American business,” the letter states.
The CEOs — who are members of the RATE (Reducing America's Taxes Equitably) Coalition — include Association of American Railroads President and CEO Ed Hamberger, and top execs from Altria Client Services, AT&T, Boeing, FedEx, Lockheed Martin, the National Retail Federation, Time Warner Cable, United Parcel Service, Verizon and Walt Disney.
“It has been 25 years since the last comprehensive tax reform was accomplished. Since then, other countries’ tax systems have changed dramatically, and not to our benefit,” the CEOs wrote in the letter. “Other [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] countries have lowered statutory tax rates while the U.S. rate remained relatively constant, resulting in an uncompetitive tax environment that discourages investment and job creation here at home.”
A lower U.S. corporate tax rate would provide “critical benefits” to the U.S. economy, most importantly by boosting investment in the nation, “bringing more American jobs, innovation and growth,” they wrote.
“We believe the cornerstone of reform must be a significantly lower statutory corporate tax rate, which is why we have formed the RATE Coalition, [which] is made up of like-minded businesses with the purpose of advocating for sound and equitable reforms to the federal tax code that would reduce the corporate tax rate in order to restore the competitiveness of American business,” the letter states.
