The Bush administration blamed high, complex US corporate taxes for a wave of companies relocating headquarters offshore and urged Congress to fix the tax code without damaging the economy.
"I don't think anyone wants to wake up one morning to find every US company headquartered offshore because our tax code drove them away and no one did anything about it," Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said Friday in a written statement.
"This is about competitiveness and complications in the tax code that put US-based companies out of step with their foreign competitors,'' he said.
In a 31-page report issued late Friday, the Treasury Department identified many ways US companies can cut their taxes -- from both foreign and US operations -- by setting up a paper parent in Bermuda or another tax haven.
Lobbyists say the change only affects taxes on US firms' foreign income, but the Treasury report said an immediate issue for Congress is ensuring that taxes from US income aren't dodged.
Ingersoll-Rand Inc, Tyco International, Cooper Industries and The Stanley Works are among the high-profile firms that have nominally reincorporated in Bermuda or are in the process of doing so. Stanley, the toolmaker longed based on Connecticut, has estimated the move will save it US$30 million a year in taxes.
The Treasury's acting chief of tax policy, Pam Olson, said Congress must take care not to take actions that "undermine the fundamental strength of our economy."
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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