Wichita Standard

U.S. Congressman Ron Estes delivered a keynote address at the International Tax Cooperation and Competition: A Reset event, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute. During his speech, Estes focused on international tax policy developments.

He emphasized the importance of tax policy reform for economic growth. “It's great to be able to talk about things that are going on in the world, and particularly things that are going on as we relate to tax policy and good economic policy, which drives good economic growth,” he said.

Reflecting on the history of crafting the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TCJA), Estes noted, “The United States had the fourth-highest corporate tax rate in the world... It was always putting our industry at a competitive disadvantage.” He discussed how lowering corporate tax rates helped address these issues.

Estes also highlighted efforts to incentivize investment through provisions such as research and development deductions. He stated, “We also want to make sure that we looked at, how do we incentivize investment.”

On securing permanent tax provisions with the One Big, Beautiful Bill (OBBB), he mentioned new measures like "No Tax on Tips" and "No Tax on Overtime." According to him, these initiatives aim to drive both business and individual economic growth.

Addressing global taxation concerns, Estes discussed international discussions leading to Pillar One and Pillar Two frameworks under OECD guidance. He pointed out challenges with Digital Services Taxes (DSTs) leading up to these discussions.

Commenting on changes during different U.S. administrations regarding these pillars, he remarked on how shifts affected U.S.-based businesses' competitiveness globally.

Finally, Estes talked about working with Chairman Jason Smith on legislation addressing international tax policy inadequacies: “As we were working through One Big, Beautiful Bill... [we] had a couple of different pieces of legislation.”

He concluded by expressing optimism for competitive worldwide economies driven by effective tax policies: “I'm looking forward to taxes not slowing down good successful economic growth.”