WASHINGTON, D.C. – November 4, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — This week, Congressman John K. Delaney (MD-6) submitted his bipartisan Infrastructure 2.0 Act as an amendment to the Surface Transportation bill.
The Surface Transportation bill would continue baseline funding for 6 years, but only provides funding to pay for half of that. In contrast, the Infrastructure 2.0 Act would fully fund a highway bill for 6 years at increased levels. Recently, the American Society of Engineers released their 2013 Infrastructure Report Card, grading America’s infrastructure a D+.
Delaney releases the following statement:
“Although I am pleased to see Congress coming together to work on a so-called six-year reauthorization of the highway bill instead of another short term patch, the reality is that this bill only provides funding for the first three years. If we continue to fund our infrastructure at these anemic levels, our D+ infrastructure will be even worse after 6 years than it is today. That is why I submitted my bipartisan Infrastructure 2.0 Act as an amendment to the bill, which will use revenues from international tax reform to fully fund a 6 year bill at increased levels and create a permanent financing tool for states and local governments to use for their own infrastructure projects. I hope my colleagues will agree with me that fully funding the Highway Trust Fund and fixing our broken international tax system is the fiscally responsible thing to do.”
Delaney Amendment #80 to Highway bill (based on the Infrastructure 2.0 Act)
Investing in 21st Century Infrastructure with Deemed Repatriation at 8.75% Tax Rate
Existing overseas profits accumulated by U.S. multi-national corporations would be subject to a mandatory, one-time 8.75% tax, replacing deferral option and current rate of 35%.
$120 billion to the Highway Trust Fund, enough to meet funding gap at increased levels for six years.
$50 billion to capitalize the American Infrastructure Fund (AIF) a new financing mechanism for transportation, water, energy, communications and education projects. Leveraged to $750 billion, AIF financing (loans, bond guarantees and equity) is available to state and local governments. American Infrastructure Fund was first proposed in Rep. Delaney’s bipartisan Partnership to Build America Act.
$25 million pilot program to create regional infrastructure accelerators, similar to the West Coast Infrastructure Exchange
This frees the estimated $2 trillion in overseas earnings to return to the United States, spurring private sector re-investment and growth.
Creating Long-term Highway Trust Fund Solvency and Policy Certainty
This amendment provides six years of HTF solvency, providing immediate certainty to the private sector and policymakers.
The legislation also establishes a bipartisan and bicameral commission that is tasked with developing a solution for permanent solvency of the Highway Trust Fund.
Building a Path for Broader Tax Reform
To fix our broken international tax system going forwards, this pro-growth reform package would end deferral, reduce anti-competitive over taxation, and decrease taxes for companies paying fair rates abroad but increase taxes for companies in tax havens. This would eliminate the lock-out effect and allow for the free flow of profits back to the United States.
Under this option, for Active Market Foreign Income, a company would pay a 12.25% tax to the U.S. on overseas profits if they are currently paying no tax and a 2% tax to the U.S. if they are already paying the OECD average of 25% abroad, with a sliding scale in-between.
