Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn announced Wednesday that he is putting $150 million into a super PAC to back legislation to prevent companies from moving their headquarters out of the U.S. through corporate inversions.
In a letter published on his site, Icahn lent his support to tax reform favored by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan and senators Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, intended to eliminate inversions.
Right now “is by far the worst time imaginable to have an exodus of hundreds of companies,” Icahn wrote, warning that the U.S. economy is “extremely fragile.”
Icahn, who is reportedly worth upwards of $20 billion, made his fortune through forcing companies to restructure to become more profitable.
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He expressed concern about inversions, which are tax maneuvers in which U.S. businesses buy a smaller company in a low-tax jurisdiction, and then move the headquarters of the combined company into that country to lower their tax bill.
Inversions have become more frequent in recent years, as corporations have amassed huge amounts of cash held untaxed overseas, while other countries have lowered their corporate tax rates.
Schumer and Portman have proposed allowing that money to be repatriated at a special low tax rate, while ending taxation on companies’ overseas income in the future. The revenue that would be generated through the reform would be dedicated to transportation spending.
Ryan, a top policy voice among Republicans who is currently considering a run for House speaker, has strongly promoted that approach. The odds against a major tax deal during President Obama’s last year in office, however, are slim.
Icahn wrote that “the time has come to also hold senators and congressmen accountable for the current gridlock in Congress that prevents important legislation from being passed.”
“Not passing this legislation now will be recorded in history as a greater blunder then ‘Custer’s Last Stand,'” he added.
In the past, Icahn has not been majorly involved in politics. Earlier this year, however, he was mentioned by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as a possible selection for Treasury secretary. In turn, Icahn spoke favorably about some of Trump’s proposals on businesses and taxation.
