Did you know POTATUS and the treasury gnome have spent 2 years negotiating a Global Minimum Tax?

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

I had not heard this. And what I am hearing is pretty disturbing as, unsurprisingly, it completely screws American businesses. It takes the concepts of globalism and equity, then combines them while surrendering our sovereignty over our own tax revenues. Basically giving it away.

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Does that sound about right?

Horrifically enough, it is.

Over the past two years, President Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have negotiated a global minimum tax through the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). This organization surrenders America’s sovereignty over our tax code and allows foreign countries to take our taxes that were meant for our own essential programs and military.

…Until last year, the United States was the only country in the world with a global minimum tax. Here at home, U.S. corporations already face a 21% tax rate. Congress has a long history of using the tax code to incentivize certain behavior from businesses and individuals.

…All 25 Republicans of the Ways and Means Committee sponsored the Defending American Jobs and Investment Act. This bill requires the Treasury Department to identify taxes enacted by foreign countries that attack U.S. businesses, like the Undertaxed Profits Rule (UTPR).

The UTPR’s goal is to force countries to enact the OECD plan for global socialism and collect more tax dollars from American businesses. The OECD is actively working against American interests, even while the United States funds 20% of its yearly budget. Republicans in Congress have promised to end all funding for the OECD if it continues along this dangerous path.

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Republicans in Congress held a hearing on the 17th (!) exposing the negotiations and the “deal” which the president and Treasury Secretary Yellen had struck and the more you dig into this Undertaxed Profits Rule (UTPR) those two bozos have agreed to, the worse it gets.

…“Once again, the Biden Administration neglected to consult Congress before cheerleading the OECD’s latest global tax code rewrite. Today’s ‘administrative guidance’ acknowledges what Republicans have warned for more than two years: the UTPR surtax is unworkable and unlawful.

“By exposing the UTPR’s fundamental flaws, congressional Republicans created an opportunity for the OECD to reconsider this illegal extraterritorial tax which violates U.S. sovereignty. Shockingly, the Biden Administration failed to follow through, surrendering to foreign country demands to allow the UTPR to hit U.S. workers and businesses starting in 2026. Moreover, the OECD’s nonsensical treatment of investment incentives remains, which will send U.S. R&D jobs and tax revenues overseas.

The Wall Street Journal is saying that U.S. companies have won a smallish reprieve in the implementation of this global business equity tax and, of course, the brilliant Yellen thinks it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. Holy crap, what did we do to deserve these mushrooms when we need brains?

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…Under the updated agreement negotiated by the Treasury Department, companies will have an extra year—until 2026—before foreign countries can start imposing new taxes on any U.S. companies deemed to pay too little tax in the U.S. And the clean-energy tax credits at the core of last year’s Inflation Reduction Act will be counted in a more favorable way than some companies had feared, offering certainty as a tax-credit trading market gets under way.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is leading the talks, detailed the changes Monday in technical guidance after negotiations among countries.

The U.S. and about 140 other jurisdictions agreed in late 2021 to impose a 15% minimum tax on large companies in each country where they operate. Negotiators, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, hailed the deal as a landmark achievement in international cooperation and a bulwark against corporate tax dodging.

Did you read that first line?

Before FOREIGN COUNTRIES CAN START IMPOSING NEW TAXES ON ANY U.S. COMPANIES DEEMED TO PAY “too little” tax in the U.S.

What are these Davos devotees doing to us?

…Some countries—Japan, South Korea and members of the European Union—are forging ahead with minimum taxes under the deal, but the U.S. isn’t. After negotiating the deal, the Biden administration couldn’t push the changes through the Democratic-controlled Congress last year. Republicans, who now lead the House, oppose the deal, calling it a global tax surrender.

The U.S. has a 10.5% minimum tax on U.S. companies’ foreign income that was created in 2017 and a 15% minimum tax on large companies’ global profits that was enacted last year. Neither conforms to the global deal, however. So as the OECD hammers out the rules, the U.S. has looked for ways to make the country’s system fit the international framework.

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So the administration couldn’t even get this stinking pile of poo through a Democratic Congress? It’s no wonder when you learn how it works.

…Under the UTPR, a foreign country can look at a company’s tax rate in every country and, if that isn’t 15%, charge more in taxes. For example, France could see that a U.S. tech company is paying a 10% rate to the U.S. and require it to pay more to France. Monday’s guidance delays that rule until 2026 in countries where the tax rate is at least 20%. The U.S. corporate tax rate is 21%; the delay gives Congress time to address this with other expiring tax provisions in 2025.

BIDENOMICS, BABY!

And now they’re making noises because the Republicans want to pull the plug on what was obviously a surrender of national sovereignty?

The administration that sneaks out to do everything out behind the woodshed under cover of darkness had some tapdancing to do at the hearing. This is just a snippet from the link:

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Chairman Smith: “Was Congress consulted prior to Treasury agreeing to a UTPR surtax that would allow foreign governments to tax the U.S. operations of U.S. companies?”

Mr. Plowgian: “We did receive input from Congress on the UTPR during the negotiations…We did receive input from Congress.”

Chairman Smith: “I have followed this issue very closely over the past three years, and I don’t think that’s the case. I know that Treasury has never consulted with Republican members prior to a decision. And unless you would like to revise your testimony, please provide to this committee in writing, the date of the consultation, the names of Treasury personnel involved, and the names of members of Congress that Treasury met with. Can you get me that information?”

OECD Is Another Global Institution Where the Deck is Stacked Against America

The OECD, the organization colluding with the Biden Administration on its global tax surrender, is largely controlled by European nations and their former colonies and has amassed over 130 signatory nations to its global tax scheme. Yet, the burden of the deal falls largely on American businesses, with American firms slated to pay 60 percent of the taxes under Pillar 1 of the agreement. The decision by the Biden Administration to play by OECD rules shows a stunning betrayal of the American employers and workers who will be affected by this tax deal.

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Color me shocked there’s been little to no airtime for this, but there have been outraged calls to dump the whole disgusting, anti-American mess. It’s yet one more example of an unconstitutional power grab from this rogue regime…

…An obvious target is Mr. Biden’s actions circumventing Congress and agreeing with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to impose an international minimum tax on large international companies, most of which are owned by American investors. Remarkably, the Biden administration agreed to let foreign governments tax U.S. companies on their U.S. earnings if Congress refuses to adopt the minimum tax. In this extraordinary circumvention of the Constitution, the Biden administration has attempted to use an international agreement that Congress never approved to force Congress to raise taxes.

This follows similar administrative practices of using European regulations and antitrust actions to impose policies on U.S. companies that our courts have rejected. Fortunately, the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Bill as reported by the House subcommittee terminates all U.S. funding for the OECD. Congress should further disavow the tax agreement and, using the power of the House to legislate on appropriations bills, mandate retaliation against any nation attempting to tax U.S. companies on U.S. earnings. …

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…run by duplicitous, malevolent clowns.

We have got to take the whole thing in ’24.

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John Stossel 8:30 AM | October 12, 2024
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