U.S. Tax Code: Love It, Leave It, or Reform It

The U.S. tax code is infected with the chronic diseases of loopholes and inefficiency. These infections are hobbling America's drive to create more good-wage, red, white, and blue jobs here at home. They are a significant drag on our economy and are harming U.S. competitiveness. The latest outbreak of this contagion is the growing wave of corporate inversions, where American companies move their headquarters out of the United States in pursuit of lower tax rates. The Congress has been aware of the inversion virus for a long time. In fact, it passed legislation purporting to solve the problem a decade ago. But the underlying sickness continues to gnaw away at our economy with increasing intensity. The American tax code is an anticompetitive mess. Accountants, lawyers, and fast-buck artists looking for tax shelters feed off it. This mess is driving American investment dollars overseas, and, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, it is costing American taxpayers billions.