Outlook Dims for Tax Break Sought by Big Businesses
The Bush administration threw cold water on big companies' hopes of broad tax relief this fall.
Business interests have been aggressively lobbying Congress and the White House for new tax cuts to replace a break for exporters that has been ruled an illegal subsidy by the World Trade Organization. It must be eliminated in order to prevent the European Union from imposing as much as $4 billion of trade sanctions.
The push for business tax cuts has reached such intensity that some congressional proposals to replace the break have ballooned and would cost several times what the existing one costs -- as much as $200 billion over a decade, compared with the export break's cost of about $50 billion. The current tax break, known as the Extraterritorial Income Exclusion, or ETI, has been on the books in one form or another since the 1970s.
Monday, new White House budget director Joshua Bolten sought to damp expectations for the replacement legislation, saying the administration would prefer an approach that doesn't add to the government's worsening deficits.
"We prefer that whatever fix is done to [ETI] be done in a neutral way," Mr. Bolten said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. He added that the administration hasn't endorsed any particular replacement proposal, and said it is working with Republican and Democratic lawmakers "to try to bring everyone around to a similar sort of approach."
Mr. Bolten's statement followed recent comments by President Bush and his economic advisers, who have said further tax cuts aren't needed to boost the economy.
But it could put the White House at odds with some Republican leaders in Congress. They are looking to turn the ETI replacement into an occasion for broader relief for big businesses. The statements also appeared to increase the risk of a bruising political battle this fall between American businesses.
"I wish him luck," said William Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, an association that attempted unsuccessfully to find a revenue-neutral solution of its own last year.
The problem is that many companies -- notably big exporters -- would be hurt badly by repeal of the ETI. At the same time, many multinationals and other businesses that didn't benefit from it want to share in the government's largesse.
Mr. Bolten was confirmed this summer as director of the Office of Management and Budget, but played a central role before that as deputy chief of staff. He has been a confidante of Mr. Bush since the 2000 presidential campaign, when he was issues director.
His position on the export break may put him at loggerheads with the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Bill Thomas (R., Calif.). His bill, released late last month, would have a 10-year price tag of about $128.2 billion, even accounting for the $50 billion of savings from repealing the ETI.
Mr. Thomas's staff Monday pointed out that the administration's budget for 2004 endorsed many of the chairman's proposals. A Ways and Means spokeswoman also said that without the costly changes, businesses will continue shuttering operations, or shifting them out of the U.S.
Still, Mr. Bolten's comments seemed to offer some hope for alternative approaches that would cost the government less. Senate Finance Committee leaders are said to be working on such an approach. Another comes from a bipartisan group led by Reps. Phil Crane (R., Ill.) and Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.). Their bill, which focuses its benefits on domestic manufacturers, would cost only $126 million over 10 years.
Mr. Rangel hailed Mr. Bolten's comments. "Even the administration acknowledges that now is not the time for a bloated corporate-tax cut," Mr. Rangel said.
美国公司的减税美梦蒙上阴影
满心希望布什政府今秋大幅减税的美国大公司却被迎头泼了一盆冷水。
一段时间以来，美国商业利益团体积极游说国会和白宫，希望用一项新减税法案替代被世界贸易组织(World Trade Organization)裁定为非法补贴的域外收入除外条款(Extraterritorial Income Exclusion，简称：ETI)。为避免欧盟(European Union)高达40亿美元的贸易制裁，美国必须废除ETI条款。
减征公司税的呼声前所未有地高涨，国会提案已经堆成了小山。不过如果减税提案得以通过，美国政府的税收收入将减少数倍。在现行的ETI条款规定下，美国政府从出口商处少收税款金额在500亿美元左右，但新法案可使政府在未来十年的税收收入最多减少2,000亿美元。ETI条款自上个世纪70年代以来就开始施行，只是形式略有不同。
日前，美国管理及预算办公室(Office of Management and Budget)新任主任乔舒亚?保顿(Joshua Bolten)表示，政府希望新法案不会使不断恶化的预算赤字继续扩大。他的讲话给美国公司的减税希望蒙上阴影。
保顿在接受《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)采访时表示，不管用什么法案代替ETI条款，政府都希望是以温和的方式。保顿说，政府目前还未认可任何新法案，但正在努力与共和党和民主党议员达成某种共识。
此前，美国总统布什(Bush)及其经济顾问曾表示，美国不需要通过进一步减税来刺激经济增长。
但保顿的话使白宫站在了国会某些共和党领袖的对立面。尽管最近几轮的减税举措已经使公司纳税处于相对较低的水平，共和党人仍主张用大幅降低大公司纳税额的法案来代替即将被废除的ETI。保顿的讲话可能也会使今秋美国公司之间的政治角力升级。
全国对外贸易委员会(National Foreign Trade Council)去年曾尝试寻求一种收入中性的税收解决方案，但却以失败告终，但该委员会主席赖因施(William Reinsch)希望保顿能够有好运气。
问题的难度在于，废除ETI将严重损害许多公司的利益，特别是微软(Microsoft Corp.)和波音公司(Boeing Co.)等大出口商。与此同时，许多原本不享受ETI好处的跨国公司和其他企业也想在政府的慷慨施舍中尝尝甜头。
保顿今年夏天被任命为美国管理及预算办公室主任，之前他曾担任白宫办公室副主任。从2000年总统大选以来保顿就是布什的密友。
保顿在减征出口商所得税问题上的立场，可能会使他和众议院筹款委员会(House Ways and Means Committee)主席比尔?托马斯(Bill Thomas)成为对头。这位当权的加州共和党人上月底提议10年内将公司税减少大约1,282亿美元，其中甚至包括废除ETI后节省下的500亿美元。
托马斯的助手昨天表示，布什政府在2004年预算中同意了托马斯的许多变更提议，特别是对跨国公司的减税提议。筹款委员会发言人也警告说，如果政府不帮助美国公司降低成本，公司还将关闭更多的业务，或乾脆将公司迁出美国。
不过，保顿的讲话似乎为寻求其他方式的努力提供了一定希望。据说美国参议院财政委员会(Senate Finance Committee)正在制定这样的计划，将使政府的减征税款不至于那么多。该计划由伊利诺伊州共和党众议员克兰(Phil Crane)和纽约民主党议员兰热尔(Charles Rangel)领导的两党合作团体制定。这份提案将重点放在国内制造商的利益上，所需成本仅是托马斯提案的一小部分，10年内减税金额仅为1.26亿美元。
兰热尔赞同保顿的观点。他说，连政府都认为现在不是大幅降低公司税的恰当时机。
公司税问题上意见相左的两个派别
托马斯派主张：
--中小公司税率减少到32%
--加大投资冲销，降低替代最低税额
--暂时降低境外所得税，制定境外收入长期减征条款
--废除目前的ETI条款
--未来十年征税额减少1,282亿美元
克兰-兰热尔派主张：
--公司所得税率最低降至31.5%
--用5年的过渡期逐步废除ETI条款
--收入中性原则
