On Thursday, the Supreme Court preserved a Trump-era tax on offshore investments, rejecting a Washington state couple’s claim in a case that might have imperiled existing tax rules and derailed Democratic talk of a wealth tax.
A 7-2 ruling affirmed the tax, despite many justices providing opposing arguments.
In reading his statement from the bench, Justice Brett Kavanaugh emphasized that the court’s judgment was “narrow” and did not involve the simmering argument over a wealth tax.
The carefully regarded tax case centered on whether the government may tax investment revenues that had yet to be collected. Charles and Kathleen Moore, a couple from Washington state, appealed a $15,000 tax charge they received as a result of their investment in an Indian company. The Moores argued that the profits at issue were reinvested rather than given to them.
The relevant tax was passed by Congress in 2017 as part of a broader package signed by then-President Donald Trump. Certain foreign firms with majority American ownership imposed a one-time required repatriation tax on shareholders on undistributed earnings earned between 1986 and the end of 2017. The provision was estimated to generate $340 billion over a decade.
Source: CNN
