Tax Policy Update - April 21, 2015

NUMBER OF THE WEEK: 6.5 percent

The tax rate at which companies could voluntarily repatriate their foreign earnings under the Invest in Transportation Act of 2015 ( S. 981). Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced the bipartisan proposal, offering ways to save the Highway Trust Fund. Funding authority for surface transportation projects is due to expire May 31. Under the bill, all tax revenues collected through the repatriation program would be transferred into the Highway Trust Fund. "This bipartisan repatriation proposal will stimulate the economy by bringing back hundreds of billions of American dollars currently sitting offshore...and will provide much-needed revenue to the Highway Trust Fund," Boxer said. Some of Boxer's colleagues in the Senate have expressed doubts about a one-time, voluntary repatriation holiday as the Joint Committee on Taxation regards such measures as revenue losers over the long run. Earlier this year, Senate Finance