{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=C533C464-FDDE-45BF-B798-89F268066155", "Thune: New International Tax System Would Help American Small Businesses", "2017-10-31", "2017", "2017-10", "Republican", "House", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\tU.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed several of the GOP\u2019s tax reform objectives, including reforming our outdated international tax code. By transitioning from a worldwide tax system to a territorial tax system where businesses are taxed within the territory they operate, wages will increase and there will be more jobs and opportunities for American workers who are employed by global companies. Small and medium-sized businesses throughout our country that make up the supply chain for America\u2019s global companies would also benefit from a territorial tax system.\r\nTo learn more about Thune\u2019s work on tax reform, please visit the tax reform section on www.thune.senate.gov.\r\nThune\u2019s remarks (as prepared for delivery):\r\n\u201cMr. President, the House and Senate are moving forward on a final draft of our tax reform bill, and I\u2019m excited about the progress we\u2019re making.\r\n\u201cWe've got one goal in mind with tax reform, Mr. President \u2013 providing real relief to ordinary Americans.\r\n\u201cTo the parents questioning whether they can afford the car they need to fit their growing family.\r\n\u201cTo the single mom wondering how she\u2019s going to pay the bills this month.\r\n\u201cTo the middle-aged couple worrying about a secure retirement.\r\n\u201cEverything in our tax reform framework is centered on providing relief to these Americans.\r\n\u201cTo start with, we\u2019re going to provide them with a substantial amount of direct relief by lowering their tax rates and doubling the standard deduction, so that they\u2019re keeping more of their paycheck every month.\r\n\u201cWe\u2019re also going to significantly expand the child tax credit.\r\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re going to simplify and streamline the tax code so that it\u2019s easier for Americans to figure out what benefits they qualify for, and so they don\u2019t have to spend a lot of time and money filing their taxes.\r\n\u201cAll of these reforms mean more money in Americans\u2019 pockets.\r\n\u201cBut we\u2019re not stopping there.\r\n\u201cWe\u2019re also going to focus on reforming the business side of the tax code, so that we can give Americans access to the kind of jobs, wages, and opportunities that will set them up for a secure future.\r\n\u201cIn order for individual Americans to thrive economically, we need American businesses to thrive.\r\n\u201cThriving businesses create jobs.\r\n\u201cThey provide opportunities.\r\n\u201cThey increase wages and invest in their workers.\r\n\u201cAnd they invest in new equipment, facilities, and product lines to innovate and expand their businesses.\r\n\u201cRight now, though, our tax code is not helping businesses thrive.\r\n\u201cInstead it\u2019s strangling both large and small businesses with high tax rates.\r\n\u201cOur nation has the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world \u2013 at least 10 percentage points higher than the majority of our international competitors.\r\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s a problem for American workers, because high tax rates leave businesses with less money to invest in their workers, increase wages, or create new jobs.\r\n\u201cAnd this situation is compounded when you\u2019re an American business with international competitors that are paying a lot less in taxes than you are.\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s no surprise that U.S. businesses struggling to stay competitive in the global economy don\u2019t have a lot of resources to devote to creating new jobs and increasing wages.\r\n\u201cA study from the White House Council of Economic Advisers estimates that reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent would increase average household income by $4,000 annually.\r\n\u201cA second study shows a similar pay increase.\r\n\u201cBoston University professor and public finance expert Larry Kotlikoff found that lowering the corporate tax rate to 20 percent would increase household income by $3,500 per year on average.\u00a0\u00a0\r\n\u201cThat\u2019s a significant pay raise for hardworking Americans.\r\n\u201cIn addition to lowering the corporate tax rate, there\u2019s another important thing we can do to increase the availability of jobs here at home.\r\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s reforming our outdated worldwide tax system.\r\n\u201cUnder our worldwide tax system, American companies pay U.S. taxes on the profit they make here at home, as well as on part of the profit they make abroad, once they bring that money home to the United States.\r\n\u201cThe problem with this is that most other major world economies have shifted from a worldwide tax system to a territorial tax system.\r\n\u201cIn a territorial tax system, you pay taxes on the money you earn where you make it, and only there.\r\n\u201cYou aren\u2019t taxed again when you bring money back to your home country.\r\n\u201cMost of American companies\u2019 foreign competitors have been operating under a territorial tax system for years, so they\u2019re paying a lot less in taxes on the money they make abroad than American companies are.\r\n\u201cAnd that leaves American companies at a disadvantage.\r\n\u201cThese foreign companies can underbid American companies for new business simply because they don\u2019t have to add as much in taxes into the price of their products or services.\r\n\u201cAnd when foreign companies beat out American companies for new business, it\u2019s not just American companies who suffer: It\u2019s American workers.\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s the American workers employed by these companies who live and work in every state in the union.\r\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s the American workers who work for the small and medium-sized companies that form the supply chain here in the United States.\r\n\u201cFor every American company that operates in countries around the world, there are countless companies here at home that supply the raw material for the products sold abroad.\r\n\u201cBusinesses that handle the packaging and shipping of those products.\r\n\u201cAnd enterprises that supply support services like accounting, legal, and payroll services.\u00a0\r\n\u201cAmerica\u2019s global companies rely on a web of supporting businesses that spans the country.\u00a0\r\n\u201cAnd when these global companies struggle, so do these supporting businesses and their workers.\r\n\u201cBy transitioning from a worldwide tax system to a territorial tax system, we will not just be boosting wages, jobs, and opportunities for American workers employed by these global companies.\r\n\u201cWe will also be increasing wages, jobs, and opportunities for workers at the countless small and medium-sized businesses throughout our country that make up the supply chain for America\u2019s global companies.\r\n\u201cFinally, Mr. President, our tax plan will tackle the other key part of improving the playing field for American workers:\r\n\u201cAnd that is lowering the tax rates on small businesses.\r\n\u201cSmall businesses are incredibly important for new job creation.\r\n\u201cBut like bigger companies, right now small businesses are being strangled by high tax rates.\r\n\u201cThat can make it difficult for small businesses to even survive, much less thrive and expand their operations.\r\n\u201cLowering small business tax rates \u2013 and making it easier for small businesses to recover their invested capital more quickly \u2013 will free up the money small business owners need to expand their businesses, add workers, or give employees a raise.\r\n\u201cTogether, these aspect of tax reform are essential to reversing the lackluster economy of the last eight years.\r\n\u201cAmericans deserve better, and tax reform can be the key to putting this country back on the path to solid, sustainable economic growth.\r\n\u201cMr. President, before I close today, I\u2019d like to switch gears for a minute and talk about judicial nominations.\r\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had the chance to confirm some excellent nominees so far this year \u2013 many of whom Democrats have ultimately supported.\r\n\u201cBut despite this fact, Democrats have insisted on delaying the process of almost every single nomination to a district or circuit court.\r\n\u201cThat\u2019s pretty much the definition of partisanship \u2013 when you obstruct nominees based not on any disagreement you have with them, but simply because you don\u2019t like the person who\u2019s doing the nominating.\r\n\u201cNow, Mr. President, Democrats\u2019 delays are ultimately pretty pointless.\r\n\u201cWe\u2019re not going to stop confirming nominees just because Democrats are dragging out the process.\r\n\u201cBut these delays are a disservice to the American people.\r\n\u201cThere are a lot of important issues the Senate needs to be debating \u2013 from spending bills to tax reform \u2013 and the time we waste on pointless partisan exercises is time taken from those important issues.\r\n\u201cBut Mr. President, while Democrats\u2019 partisanship is frustrating, there\u2019s a much more serious issue that has come up during these judicial confirmations.\r\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s the anti-religious sentiment displayed by some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle during the hearing on judicial nominee Amy Barrett\u2019s nomination, which we\u2019ll be voting on this week.\r\n\u201cMs. Barrett\u2019s qualifications are well known.\r\n\u201cThe American Bar Association, which rates judicial nominees, has given her its highest rating of well-qualified.\r\n\u201cAs my colleague the minority leader has said, the bar association\u2019s evaluation is the \u201cgold standard by which judicial candidates are judged.\u201d\r\n\u201cBut, Mr. President, despite her judicial qualifications, it became clear in the hearing on her nomination that some of my colleagues think she should be disqualified because she is a practicing Catholic.\r\n\u201cThat\u2019s right, Mr. President.\r\n\u201cApparently practicing your religion is now grounds for declaring you unfit to be a judge.\r\n\u201cHere\u2019s what the Constitution has to say about that:\r\n\u201cFrom Article Six, \u2018no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.\u2019\r\n\u201cLet me repeat that, Mr. President.\r\n\u201c\u2018No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.\u2019\r\n\u201cIn other words, Mr. President, in the United States, you can\u2019t be disqualified from serving as a judge because you\u2019re a believing Catholic \u2013 or a believing member of any faith.\r\n\u201cThe only qualification the Constitution imposes is a commitment to uphold the Constitution.\r\n\u201cAnd yet the second-ranking Democrat in the United States Senate apparently thought it was appropriate to ask Ms. Barrett if she was a practicing member of her religion \u2013 with the implication that if she was, it might jeopardize her fitness for being a judge.\r\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats\u2019 questioning is not going to stop Ms. Barrett\u2019s nomination.\r\n\u201cBut it is deeply disturbing nonetheless.\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s a scary thing when leaders of a major political party imply that there is no role for religious people in public life.\r\n\u201cAnd I don\u2019t need to tell anybody that that\u2019s contrary to everything our founders stood for.\r\n\u201cThe right to be able to practice religion freely \u2013 yes, in public too \u2013 was so fundamental to the founders\u2019 understanding of liberty that they made it the very first freedom mentioned in the Bill of Rights.\r\n\u201cPeople of faith have made incalculable contributions to our country, and faith has driven some of the greatest movements in American history, from the abolitionist movement to the civil rights movement.\r\n\u201cI hope the Democrat Party doesn\u2019t move further down the path of excluding religious people from public life.\r\n\u201cIf they ever succeed in excluding people of faith from government, they will have destroyed one of the freedoms on which our country rests.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], 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