Promises Made, Promises Kept

Floor Speech

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Madam Speaker, I thank Chairwoman McClain for the opportunity to speak in this Special Order hour.

When I was back home for a big portion of August, Madam Speaker, I had a great opportunity to spend time with small business owners and individuals trying to understand the difference between an invest America Trump account versus a 529 and going through a lot of these details.

I kept hearing something from a lot of folks. I get that this seems like a good thing to always have lower taxes, but it is going to create a whole bunch of debt, right?

I love getting that question because I am able to talk them through some of the specifics. While I may not be great talking about tax policy in a rah-rah situation, when you get to actually explain a few basic concepts to people, you see that folks actually get what we are talking about. Not the bill of goods they are being sold, but when you look at what happens with the concept of inversion. When a U.S. multinational company can choose to co-op with a foreign entity to be able to find a lower tax domicile, lowering their overall tax liability, they can do that. That happens, and they end up paying tax revenue to foreign countries.

Let's just say what you saw prior to 2017 when Republicans did the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, you had a tax rate of foreign drive and tangible income at approximately 16 percent effective rate, but let's say in Ireland, it was 13 percent. A company could easily set up their entire tax base for that portion of their business in Ireland and pay 13 percent where the U.S. sees no revenue.

If we lower that tax rate to 13 percent just to become competitive, we don't even have to beat other nations' tax rates. When we lowered that to 13 percent just to be competitive, those companies started to flee back to America, and we got more revenue.

I will talk to folks and say, when you make taxes competitive, we will actually grow our U.S. tax revenue. That is not adding deficit. When you see people actually grasp that concept, it is fascinating to be able to say, of course, I would rather people be paying taxes in the U.S. as opposed to a foreign nation. Now, the foreign country doesn't love that when we do it.

If we put things on par, companies will almost, in every circumstance, choose to do business in the U.S. and we get more revenue. It is a win-win, and it is not what you are being lied to about.

This is good, sound, competitive tax policy that will strengthen our Nation, grow our revenue, and make it easier for business to compete.

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