Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

More Info

I would like to contribute

Louis Jacobson
By Louis Jacobson December 20, 2017
← Back to Create a 10-percent repatriation tax

The new repatriation tax rate isn't 10 percent, but it's close

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump promised to set low tax rates to encourage U.S. companies to bring back funds they had stashed overseas.

Some companies store income overseas -- rather than bringing it home -- for fear of incurring relatively high U.S. tax rates.

During the campaign, Trump said his tax plan "will provide a deemed repatriation of corporate profits held offshore at a one-time tax rate of 10 percent."

On Dec. 19 and 20, the Senate and the House passed the final version of the tax bill, which will go to the president for his signature.

Under the bill that passed, U.S. businesses that are holding assets overseas would be allowed to repatriate those assets at 8 percent, or 15.5 percent for liquid assets.

That's different than the 10 percent rate Trump had promised, but one of the two rates is actually lower than that -- 8 percent.

"The exact number isn't far off, but on average, it's not far off," said Patrick Newton, a spokesman for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Despite the difference in Trump's proposed tax rates and those in the bill, the two rates in the bills average out to close to the 10 percent he'd proposed during the campaign. We rate this a Promise Kept.

Our Sources