WASHINGTON - Today, Senator Mike Lee introduced the Rebuilding America Act, legislation that will permanently increase incentives for American companies to invest overseas earnings back in to the U.S.  economy.  Under Lee’s legislation the effective repatriation tax rate would be set at 5% down from 35%, which is currently the highest in the developed world.

“American companies have over $1.4 trillion sitting overseas because it’s too expensive to bring it back home,” said Senator Lee. “That’s money that could be used to build new infrastructure and invest in the domestic workforce.

“My legislation reduces the rate permanently, rather than granting a short-term ‘holiday,’ which lasts only a short period of time and fails to give business owners the certainty they need to make long-term investments, such as expanding their payrolls. Making the repatriation rate permanent gives American companies confidence in a stable revenue stream that they will be able to count on to fund long-term expansion.

“Most importantly, the Rebuilding America Act will free up this major new source of capital, which will help the economy grow and generate new revenue. Even a former Clinton economist estimates that corporate tax revenues would increase by $36 billion with this lower repatriation tax rate. Rather than borrowing additional billions from China, as President Obama would have us do, my plan will provide those billions to American businesses while reducing the deficit.”

Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Jim Risch (R-ID) are co-sponsoring the bill.