Europe Doesn’t Like the Republican Tax Bill

It’s not just Americans who are getting screwed by the Republican tax bill:

Europe’s five largest economies on Monday warned the U.S. its planned corporate tax reform could breach world trade rules and violate double-taxation treaties the U.S. has signed….“It is important that the U.S. government’s rights over domestic tax policy be exercised in a way that adheres with international obligations to which it has signed up,” the ministers wrote in the letter.

….A provision of the House bill for a 20% excise tax on payments to foreign-affiliated companies, the Europeans warned, would discriminate against non-U.S. businesses operating in the country, contravene World Trade Organization rules and breach double-taxation agreements.

Likewise, the proposed “base erosion and anti-abuse tax provision” contained in the Senate bill could harm international banking and insurance businesses because it would treat cross-border financial transactions between a company and a subsidiary as nondeductible, subjecting it to a 10% tax, the ministers warned.

The finance chiefs also said a proposed preferential regime for some types of foreign incomes, another provision of the Senate bill, could be seen as an export subsidy banned under international trade rules.

This is no surprise. The Republican Party’s enemies these days are liberals and foreigners. The tax bill goes after liberals with a chain saw, and it’s hardly surprising that they’re going after foreigners too.

Sure, foreigners have “treaties” that liberals don’t, but the new regime has made it crystal clear that it cares nothing for past promises except those made to the most extreme elements of the Republican base. Everyone else is on their own.