Congressional tax reform tour makes Silicon Valley swing

A tax reform fact-finding tour being conducted by two prominent politicians arrives in Silicon Valley on Monday to hear from technology leaders.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) will visit Square in San Francisco on Monday and Intel in Santa Clara on Tuesday.

At the second event, Intel Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith will host the pair for a question and answer session with employees.

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The Silicon Valley stop is the third in a kind of listening tour the two chairs of Congress’ tax-writing committees are conducting as they seek to build consensus of the nation’s tax codes. So far, they have barnstormed Minnesota’s twin cities, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Tax reform has been high on Silicon Valley’s agenda for years now. In particular, high-tech companies have been amassing record amounts of cash that they keep parked overseas to avoid paying taxes on them that they believe are too high. These companies have been asking for a change in tax law that would allow them to repatriate that money at a lower tax rate and invest it domestically.

“America’s tax code is inefficient, outdated, and overly complex. It is stifling innovation and holding back America’s economic growth,” Baucus and Camp said in a joint statement. “We have a chance to fix the broken code so more jobs are created and paychecks get bigger.”

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