TEI Weighs In on the Build Back Better Act's Corporate and International Tax Reform Proposals.

• Author: McLeish, Watson M.
• Position: Tax Executives Institute

Welcome to the latest installment of Advocacy Agenda, a periodic column in which I share select insights and observations of interest to TEI members about the tax policy advocacy environment in Washington, D.C.

My last column, in the July/August 2021 issue of Tax Executive, attempted to set the scene for what was expected to be another period of historic consequence for the US international tax system--one in which TEI was prepared to play its part. TEI had just issued its new Guideposts for Tax Policy, articulating a series of high-priority, broadly applicable principles of sound tax policy to inform the burgeoning tax reform deliberations on Capitol Hill.1 And once those deliberations were ultimately reduced to writing in the form of draft legislation, the guideposts would provide a solid, principles-based foundation to support TEI's substantive advocacy efforts. It was a time of great anticipation (and apprehension) that inspired dozens of TEI members to get involved at the Institute level--many for the first time.

As the summer of 2021 progressed into the fall, TEI's Tax Reform Task Force held a series of virtual meetings with members from across the industry spectrum who shared their views on a range of corporate and international tax reform provisions in successive iterations of the Build Back Better Act (BBBA). From its initial release on September 12 to its passage in the House of Representatives on November 18, the BBBA's evolving tax title prompted over sixty TEI members to weigh in and share their concerns as in-house tax professionals. The fruits of this engagement are embodied in the compilation of substantive comments and recommendations that TEI submitted to the leaders of Congress' tax-writing committees on December 9.2

To the uninitiated, the BBBA's tax proposals are easily maligned as a politically expedient means to an end--enacting the Biden administration's climate and social policy priorities. To many TEI members, however, a more nuanced picture appears. Relative to the competing plans released by the Biden administration and a trio of Democratic US Senators last year,3 the BBBA's tax title resembles a more thoughtful and reasonably balanced package of reforms to the US international tax system--one that includes several important, long-sought technical corrections and other improvements to current law that should not be overlooked.

Of course, TEI members also identified multiple areas of significant concern among the...