No traction for offshoring pledge

President Barack Obama's campaign promise to eliminate tax benefits for companies that move jobs overseas ended up becoming fodder for Democratic campaign ads.

There are no provisions in the tax code that specifically reward companies for offshoring. But companies can take deductions for business expenses, including the cost of moving jobs to another country.

Obama included eliminating that deduction in his budgets for fiscal years 2015, 2016 and 2017, and Congressional Democrats have introduced several bills that include the idea. None of these got any traction in the Republican-controlled chambers.

Republicans and tax experts characterized one version of the legislation as political posturing, intended to help elect Democrats. (Here are two examples of attack ads Democrats have aired hammering their opponents on the vote.)

We rate this Promise Broken.