Keeping U.S. Tax Rates Competitive in a Global Marketplace

For the economy to expand, create jobs, and attract foreign investment at its full potential, businesses – both domestic and foreign – must be able to plan with confidence and make decisions based on economic fundamentals. Tax rates that are unreasonably high and rules that are complex, inconsistent, and ever-changing complicate business decision making, undermine pro-growth incentives, and distort the rational allocation of economic resources. With that in mind, the Forum strongly supports a business tax system that is reasonable, fair, consistent, and reliable.

The most fundamental business tax reform priority is to reduce current tax rates. The U.S. statutory tax rate of 39 percent is the second highest among OECD countries, and well above the average rate of 31 percent. Moreover, many of our industrial nations – including Germany, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, and China – have either announced or signaled significant reductions in their corporate tax rates. Given the competitive challenges of an increasingly global economy, business tax policy must be a central feature of any meaningful competitiveness agenda.