Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is launching his own super PAC to “help end the crippling dysfunction in Congress.”
Icahn tweeted the announcement Wednesday, saying he is committing $150 million to get the super PAC started. He also tweeted out a letter he has sent to the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, the majority and minority leaders of the Senate and the speaker of the House.
1/2 I am starting a Super PAC with my initial commitment of $150 million to help end the crippling dysfunction in Congress
— Carl Icahn (@Carl_C_Icahn) October 21, 20152/2 I have therefore sent the following letter to the relevant committees and leaders of Congress: https://t.co/EGcuHvzou4
— Carl Icahn (@Carl_C_Icahn) October 21, 2015The letter, dated Tuesday, addresses “corporate tax inversions,” or when American companies move their legal addresses abroad to countries that have lower corporate tax rates, allowing them to pay less taxes in the U.S.
“In the last few years over 50 companies have left the country through ‘inversions,’ representing over half a trillion dollars in market value, hundreds of millions in tax dollars, and tens of thousands of jobs,” Icahn wrote.
Icahn, whose net worth is $23.5 billion, according to Forbes, says a way to stop this trend is to lower the “double tax,” a tax on money that companies bring back to the United States after they have already paid taxes in the country the profit was made. Many companies simply choose not to bring the money back, according to Icahn.
“Most of these companies would be willing to pay a 5% to 10% incremental tax on this money upon bringing it back to the United States where much of it would be invested in new capital and used to create new jobs,” Ichan wrote in the letter.
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Icahn added in the letter that the senators and representative he has spoken to, including Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and New York Sen. Charles Schumer, agree with him that international tax reform is necessary.
Icahn concluded the letter with a call to action by the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee to take the “‘simple actions’ necessary to prevent what could turn into disaster.”
“I am not exaggerating when I say if you do not, our country runs the risk of losing its hegemony and those of you who are in power will have only yourselves to blame,” he wrote.
Last month, Icahn endorsed GOP front-runner Donald Trump for president, saying he thinks Trump could be the “president that could move Congress.”
“Maybe he’s brash, but he’s willing to say what he believes and he’s willing to say, ‘Hey, this is complete bulls—,’” Icahn said in a video on his website.
Trump has repeatedly said that he would ask Icahn to be Treasury secretary if he wins the election.
Nicole Brown