WASHINGTON (AP) – Billionaire New York investor Carl Icahn said Wednesday he is creating a $150 million super PAC focused on revising corporate tax law.
Icahn will use his super PAC to press Congress to pass legislation that stops U.S. companies from moving their profits overseas to take advantage of lower tax rates – a practice known as “inversions.”
American corporations – including Apple, one of his own biggest investments – are holding more than $2.2 trillion abroad, Icahn said. The investor laid out his plans in a letter posted on his website, which he said he also delivered to lawmakers.
Icahn said he will seek super PAC donations from others but noted in his letter that his own $150 million should be “more than enough to make voters fully aware of the horrible consequences” of inversions. He said in an interview Wednesday on the cable business channel CNBC that he’s taking action because he’s tired of Congress dodging the issue.
“These guys are unwilling to compromise,” he said of lawmakers. “They have to be held accountable.” He said it would take “a simple law” to address inversions and “It’s ridiculous not to do it.”