US House Majority Leader Opposes US Support of OECD Harmful Tax Initiative

On September 7, 2000, Congressman Dick Armey (R.-Tex.) and Chairman, House Ways & Means Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, sent a strong letter to Lawrence Summers, U.S. Secretary of Treasury, expressing his disapproval of the OECD harmful tax competition initiative and U.S. support for it. According to Armey’s letter, “(it) is not the role of the OECD to tell the United States - or any other member country - how to conduct tax policy, particularly when those changes would increase the tax burden on individuals and businesses.” Rep. Armey noted that the competitive position of the U.S. as the most prosperous nation in the global economy is due in part because the U.S. has managed to maintain a tax burden lower than almost every other industrialized nation, enabling it to attract jobs, capital, and entrepreneurial talent from around the world. He urged that the U.S. continue these efforts...[more]