Letter to the Honorable Sander Levin, Chairman Committee on Ways and Means

Letter

Dear Chairman Levin:

I am writing to you to underscore the urgency of enacting improvements to the tax code that will cut taxes for small businesses and close loopholes that encourage large corporations to send American jobs overseas. Job creation must remain our country's foremost domestic priority, and I urge you to support legislation to eliminate loopholes in the tax code that have the harmful effect of helping companies create jobs in foreign countries rather than here at home.

Although we are beginning to see positive signs in the job market, the economy remains far too challenged in many parts of America. Unfortunately, unemployment is almost 20 percent in some of the areas I represent, and the outsourcing of U.S. jobs to foreign locations affects every state in our Nation. Earlier this spring, for example, California lost its last large-scale auto manufacturing plant, and many of those jobs were sent to foreign countries. The loss of this plant alone is estimated to cost approximately 35,000 total jobs throughout the state.

The complexity of the U.S. tax code allows large corporations to exploit loopholes that encourage them to invest overseas, which has the affect of creating jobs abroad while allowing those same companies to avoid paying U.S. taxes. Closing these loopholes will level the playing field for American workers.

Flaws in the tax code that encourage outsourcing have existed for decades but can be allowed to continue no longer. Abuses of the foreign tax credit and other international tax provisions have cost our country far too many jobs, and I urge you to bring forward legislation that closes the loopholes that encourage companies to send jobs overseas. This course of action will create employment opportunities in our country at a time when they're badly needed.

Thank you for your consideration of this letter, and I look forward to supporting bills that will create high quality American jobs.

Sincerely,

Jerry McNerney
Member of Congress

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