Business Roundtable Report: Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions and the US Corporate Income Tax

The United States has the highest statutory corporate income tax rate among developed nations and is the only developed country with both a high statutory corporate income tax rate and a worldwide system of taxation. These features of the US corporate income tax have disadvantaged US businesses in the global market for cross-border M&A.

 

Most developed countries impose little or no additional tax on the active foreign income of multinational companies. Today the United States is the only developed country with a worldwide system and a corporate income tax rate above 30%. Consequently, foreign companies can afford to bid more for acquisitions in the United States and abroad as compared to US companies.

 

This report analyzes the cross-border M&A market and how the US corporate income tax has disadvantaged US companies in this market. Differences in statutory corporate income tax rates and the over 25,000 cross-border M&A transactions among the 34 OECD countries are examined in a statistical model over the 2004-2013 period. Transactions with both US and non-US targets and US or non-US acquirers are included.

 

The EY report finds that a US corporate income tax rate of 25% would have significantly reduced the disadvantages of US companies and would likely have resulted in the United States being a net acquirer in the cross-border M&A market.

 

http://businessroundtable.org/sites/default/files/reports/EY%20BRT%20Cross-border%20MA%20report%202015%2003%2010.pdf