The Obama Budget’s Double Taxation of U.S. Employers
4th February 2015
President Obama released his FY 2016 budget yesterday. It contains dozens of tax increases that go on for page after page. Buried in there is a series of tax increases on U.S. employers who also do business abroad. Because the U.S. has a “worldwide” tax regime, any further U.S. taxation of overseas income represents a double tax on that income. By definition, these overseas profits have already faced taxation in the country where they were earned. The United States should instead move to a “territorial” tax system, where the IRS only taxes profits earned inside our borders. That’s what the rest of the developed world does, and it’s time to modernize the code to reflect current best practices.