U.S. companies can now get a tax deduction for certain relocation costs when they move jobs overseas. At a time when the nation’s unemployment rate is still too high, why are we rewarding companies for shipping our jobs out of the country?
The Bring Jobs Home Act would give a tax break to U.S. companies that move jobs or business operations back to America. And the tax loophole for companies that ship jobs overseas would be closed.
Activists have launched a campaign to promote the bill, which is likely to be taken up after the July 4 recess.
The Teamsters are urging members to tell their senators to vote for it.
Sponsors of the Bring Jobs Home Act include Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J. As Sen. Stabenow says, America should go back to traditions that made this country so great: exporting products, not jobs.
Rep. Pascrell says the bill will,
…stop our tax code from providing corporate welfare by closing the loopholes that encourage outsourcing, and give incentives to businesses to reverse the flow of jobs back home. The light at the end of the economic recovery is powered by manufacturing; we cannot stand around while our manufacturing base continues to erode.With outsourcing taking on a high profile in the elections, the Bring Jobs Home Act draws the line between American workers and job-killers like Mitt Romney who made careers out of taking jobs away from American workers.
In addition to the Bring Jobs Home Act, labor groups are also pressing Congress to vote on the Call Center Worker and Consumption Act (H.R. 3596), which would deny federal grants and tax breaks to companies that ship call center jobs overseas. The bill would also require companies to inform callers about where their calls are being directed to and give customers the option to be to be transferred back to a U.S. call center.
Communication Workers of American (CWA), which is also mobilizing for the bill, explains:
Foreign call centers not only ship jobs abroad, but they endanger our confidential personal information because they operate without US data regulation.The Bring Jobs Home campaign is also calling for an end to currency manipulation by countries like China; taxing the overseas income of U.S. companies; and implementing fair trade policies that respect American workers.
Teamsters know what the stakes are in the fight to stop companies from offshoring our jobs. It’s time to correct anti-worker policies that allow corporations to take jobs away from Americans in order to exploit cheap labor for profit.
