Sen. Mike Lee, son of former BYU President Rex Lee, rolled out his own plan to boost the economy in hopes to re-energize the job market.
The legislation proposed by Senator Lee focuses on tax reductions on repatriated capital brought back into the United States by U.S. companies with revenue earned in foreign markets.
“American companies want to bring their earnings back here, build out their infrastructure, and invest in their domestic workforce, but current law makes it punitive to do so,” Lee said.
Lee’s effort would reduce tax rates on repatriated money from 35 percent to 5 percent. This tax cut would be enacted permanently, a measure Senator Lee thinks will prove to ensure business certainty in future planning based on the saved capital.
“The bill would lower the barrier on companies bringing more than a trillion dollars of capital back to the U.S. That will open up opportunities for job creation across the economy, particularly those looking to enter the job market,” said Lee in a statement to a Daily Universe reporter concerning the effects this legislation will have on recent graduates and young job seekers.
Other efforts to increase employment rates include President Barack Obama’s “American Jobs Act of 2011,” which has yet to receive a vote in the U.S. Senate. No sponsor has stepped forward in favor of President Obama’s plan in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Similar legislation by Texas Rep. Kevin Brady (R) would offer a 5.25 percent corporate tax holiday rather than the permanent approach that Senator Lee has proposed.
