House Committee Advances Bill for Repealing Export Tax Breaks
Today the House Ways and Means Committee voted 24-5 to approve a bill repealing existing tax breaks for U.S. exporters that were held to be in violation of World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. The WTO has previously held that the U.S. Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) program and the successor Extraterritorial Income Act (ETI) violated rules against export subsidies.
The European Union (EU), which brought both WTO challenges, has authority to impose trade sanctions of $4 billion a year against U.S. imports in retaliation unless the United States repeals the FSC/ETI tax breaks. EU officials have warned they could begin imposing some sanctions as soon as January.
Many obstacles remain for passage of this legislation as Congress' 2003 session moves closer to adjourning for the year.
|posted by Douglas N. Jacobson| Permalink 
