[20060921]RS21143_美国出口税的政策选择.pdf

Congressional Research Service The Library of CongressCRS Report for CongressReceived through the CRS WebOrder Code RS21143Updated September 21, 2006Policy Options for U.S. Export TaxationDavid L. BrumbaughSpecialist in Public FinanceGovernment and Finance DivisionSummaryPrior to 2004 the Extraterritorial Income (ETI) provisions of the U.S. tax codeprovided a tax benefit for exporters. ETI, like the Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC)provisions they replaced, was designed to boost U.S. exports. The European Union(EU), however, filed complaints with the World Trade Organization (WTO), chargingthat ETI and FSC were export subsidies and so violated the WTO agreements. In asuccession of rulings, the WTO upheld the EUs charges, and authorized the EU to levyretaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. The EU began a phased-in application of tariffs inMarch 2004. Several policy options for the United States were proposed in Congress,including retaining ETI and accepting whatever tariffs would be imposed; overhaulingthe U.S. method of taxing foreign-source income by adopting a “territorial” tax system;reforming the U.S. tax system in general by adopting a consumption tax similar to thevalue-added taxes