September 15,2000

Committee to Mark Up Tax and Trade Bills Tuesday


WASHINGTON -- Senate Finance Committee Chairman William V. Roth, Jr. (R-DE) today announced that the Committee will meet on Tuesday, September 19, 2000, at 10:00 a.m., in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building, to mark up two bills: H.R. 4986, the FSC Repeal and Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act of 2000, and H.R. 4868, the Tariff Suspension and Trade Act of 2000.

H.R. 4986, the "FSC Repeal and Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act of 2000," repeals the foreign sales corporation provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. The bill also modifies current U.S. tax law to exclude certain extraterritorial income from U.S. income. These changes are consistent with the standards set forth in the recent decisions of a World Trade Organization dispute panel and Appellate Body regarding a dispute brought before the WTO by the European Union concerning foreign sales corporations.

The Tariff Suspension and Trade Act of 2000 is a compendium of non-controversial duty suspensions and technical changes to the trade laws. Each provision included in this bill was separately introduced by a Senator, or was passed by the House as a part of H.R. 4868. On February 1, 2000, Senators Roth and Moynihan requested public comments to ensure that only those provisions that were non-controversial and which had a de minimus revenue impact were included in the bill. The Committee also solicited input from the Administration and the U.S. International Trade Commission (press release 106-290). In response to these comments, the Committee prepared a bill, which included only those duty suspension and reduction provisions which were non-controversial based on the public comments and Administration review and were revenue neutral based on estimates by the Congressional Budget Office. In addition, the bill incorporates many of the provisions unanimously passed by the House of Representatives.

The "Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Correction Act of 2000" is divided into two titles. Title I of the bill contains provisions which would temporarily suspend or reduce duties on a wide variety of products. These include a broad range of chemicals, including those used to manufacture drugs in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and environmentally friendly herbicides and insecticides. The bill also contains a provision that would ban the importation of products made with dog or cat fur, as well as a provision that would provide for the duty-free treatment of the personal effects of participants entering the United States to participate in all international athletic events.

Title II of the bill contains certain minor technical corrections to the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, a provision restricting the importation of gray market cigarettes, and provisions that would stream-line customs entry processing.