Posted on 06/19/2002 7:55:05 PM PDT by WakeUpChristian
Lawmaker Sees Export Tax Bill Action Soon
Wed Jun 19,10:18 PM ET
By Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a bid to prevent the European Union ( news - web sites) from slapping sanctions on billions of dollars of exported American goods, a key lawmaker said on Wednesday he expected action by early August on bill to revamp tax breaks for U.S. exporters.
The United States is under pressure to change the provisions because of a series of World Trade Organization ( news - web sites) rulings that the tax breaks amount to an illegal subsidy under trade rules.
The EU, which brought the case, is now awaiting a WTO decision on its request to impose 100-percent duties on slightly more than $4 billion worth of U.S. goods until the United States complies with the organization's rulings.
The WTO decision was originally scheduled for April, but has been delayed twice and is now expected in July.
The Bush administration has asked the WTO to limit any potential EU sanctions to roughly $1 billion.
House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee ( news - web sites) Chairman Bill Thomas, a California Republican, said his panel is working on a bill that it believes will bring the United States into line with WTO rules.
"My goal is to get out of committee prior to our going on the August (congressional) break," Thomas told reporters.
Thomas is scheduled to meet on Thursday with EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, who is in Washington for talks with lawmakers and Bush administration officials on the export subsidy case. He is also discussing new U.S. steel tariffs that have angered many of the United States' trading partners.
Lamy has indicated the EU would not impose sanctions against the United States in the export tax spat as long as it sees progress in Congress toward changing the law.
Unlike his counterpart, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, Thomas has been eager to push ahead with legislation because it is consistent with his goal of revamping the tax code.
He expressed frustration with the WTO's delay in deciding on the amount of retaliation the EU could impose. That could make his task easier by focusing lawmakers' attention on the issue, even if the EU did not immediately take action. ,p.
"I thought I was going to get that information in April. Then I thought I was going to get it in June and now they say July. I don't believe them any more," Thomas said.
He said legislation to revamp the export tax breaks could be coupled with efforts in Congress to address concerns about U.S. companies that move their headquarters overseas to save taxes.
There has been no final decision on that yet, Thomas said
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