FX comment: we hear HIA could be here again

This is half rumour and half conjecture but more than once this week we have heard it mentioned as a possibility that the US might revisit the idea of a tax amnesty on US corporations’ foreign earnings alongside the mooted corporation tax reduction. Normally, unrepatriated earnings are not taxed by the US authorities but Geithner’s comment that “We don’t want the tax code creating incentives to shift investment outside the United States” might indicate that might change. It is not inconceivable that a tax amnesty, wiping the slate clean, would be a precursor to the introduction of tax on all US corporate earnings.