The billionaire and activist investor, Carl Icahn announced that he is trying to lobby the congress to pass a new tax reform law that will not allow any US corporation from running business overseas just to avoid taxes. According to Icahn, he is planning to put forward $150 million into the new law known as super-PAC.
Bloomberg reported that he had addressed his concern over the current business model to the congress via official letter entitled "Letter Discussing Desperately Needed Legislation" on October 20th which can be viewed on his official website. Icahn is unhappy with how the congress is handling current trend in a corporation, where the corporation will merge with another company and opening a new headquarters in different countries just to avoid high taxes.
The new legislation proposed by Icahn will ensure all companies that incorporated in the US to give more return to local investors and some of them might need to pay taxes as high as 35 percent.
Among congress leaders that receive his letter are Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) and the members of the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
This trend, according to Icahn is a loss to the countries. He said in a statement that "The unwillingness to compromise is a form of corruption that has ruined many businesses, as well as countries, and is now afflicting our great democracy."
He also added that more than 50 companies had left the US in this few years alone. A loss that amount to almost half a trillion dollars in market value and thousands of job. He stresses that the formation of Super-PAC will be great for the US as this will block the corporate tax inversion practice.
According to Time, Icahn also argues about the US Federal Reserve moves not to increase rates as wrong and even try to raise support through the social media. He was reported to have tweeted that the Super-PAC will end the crippling dysfunction in the Congress.
Besides pushing for tax reform, Icahn has also been vocal in calling the companies which he invested in to give more return to the local investors instead of manipulating the tax law and kept the money overseas. Among the company that has been his target is Apple Inc. which he claimed to have invested more than $3 billion in early 2014.
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