Unfair trade practices

US corporations can defer taxes on their profits made overseas, and that makes keeping jobs in the US even less competitive, I would think. And no reform is planned any time soon.

"Earlier this year, the business lobby went into high gear to prevent the Obama administration’s plans for corporate tax reform, with the Business Roundtable promising to spend “whatever it takes” to ensure that the reforms never saw the light of day. That determination seems to have had some effect, as the Wall Street Journal reported today that administration “has shelved a plan to raise more than $200 billion in new taxes on multinational companies following a blitz of complaints from businesses.”

As the Journal noted, the particular reform in question — which would have limited the ability of corporations to defer taxation on profits that they earn overseas — drew the ire of the corporate world, and “companies ranging from Microsoft Corp. to General Electric Co. to International Business Machines Corp. put the topic at the top of their Washington agendas.”