tax bill indulges lobbyists (new tax benefits for moving jobs overseas)

[papau]

How a small tax bill is turning into a package of tax breaks for multinational corporations including General Electric, as well as breaks for "among others, bow-and-arrow makers, Oldsmobile dealers, NASCAR racetrack owners and producers of fishing-tackle boxes and sonar fish-finders — not to mention a $12 billion buyout for tobacco farmers. . . . Land developers, ranchers, small-airplane manufacturers, commodity traders and distillers also would benefit from various tax provisions, as would makers of ceiling fans. You have got ta love the GOP as they move jobs overseas!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/chi-0407210323jul21,1,2851366.story?coll=chi-printnews-hed

Omnibus tax bill indulges lobbyists
Eager shredding of tax code by lawmakers is boon for NASCAR, General Electric Co. and tobacco farmers


By William Neikirk
Tribune senior correspondent
Published July 21, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Congress is on the verge of turning a small tax bill, designed to undo a single corporate subsidy, into a sprawling package of special tax breaks that is leaving reformers and tax-fairness advocates appalled.

There are tax breaks for, among others, bow-and-arrow makers, Oldsmobile dealers, NASCAR racetrack owners and producers of fishing-tackle boxes and sonar fish-finders--not to mention a $12 billion buyout for tobacco farmers.

Land developers, ranchers, small-airplane manufacturers, commodity traders and distillers also would benefit from various tax provisions, as would makers of ceiling fans.<snip>

General Electric Co., for example, lobbied for and won House approval of a complex provision enabling it and other multinational corporations to avoid paying $2 billion a year in U.S. taxes on foreign earnings.

Some economists say this tax break could cause more businesses to shift operations offshore--the opposite of what members of Congress said they intended.<snip>