Good Jobs Here at Home

MON, MAY 4, 1:06 PM EST

read the transcript

One of the most frequent questions we get, whether through our comment form or through the Open for Questions session we launched for the President’s online town hall, is about the incentives in the tax code for companies to shift jobs overseas. This was one of the top questions in the jobs section, for example:

"What are your plans to encourage corporations to keep middle class jobs, such as customer service call centers and transactional based support services like accounting and computer program jobs, in the U.S?"

PAG, Houston, TX

Today the President answered that question with proposals to curb tax havens and replace tax advantages for creating jobs overseas with incentives to create them here at home.

The President closed his remarks on a note of basic fairness:

So the steps I am announcing today will help us deal with some of the most egregious examples of what's wrong with our tax code and will help us strengthen some of these other efforts. It's a down payment on the larger tax reform we need to make our tax system simpler and fairer and more efficient for individuals and corporations.

Now, it will take time to undo the damage of distorted provisions that were slipped into our tax code by lobbyists and special interests, but with the steps I'm announcing today we are beginning to crack down on Americans who are bending or breaking the rules, and we're helping to ensure that all Americans are contributing their fair share.

In other words, we're beginning to restore fairness and balance to our tax code. That's what I promised I would do during the campaign, that's what I'm committed to doing as President, and that is what I will work with members of my administration and members of Congress to accomplish in the months and years to come.

Join or read through the discussion started at Twitter.com/WhiteHouse, or read all the details in the White House fact sheet:

1) Replacing Tax Advantages for Creating Jobs Overseas With Incentives to Create Them at Home

· Reforming Deferral Rules to Curb A Tax Advantage for Investing and Reinvesting Overseas

· Closing Foreign Tax Credit Loopholes

· Using Savings To Make Permanent The Tax Credit for Investing in Research and Experimentation at Home

2) Getting Tough on Overseas Tax Havens

· Eliminating Loopholes for "Disappearing" Offshore Subsidiaries

· Cracking Down on the Abuse of Tax Havens by Individuals

· Devoting New Resources for IRS Enforcement to Help Close the International Tax Gap