America’s tax on foreign investors could do more damage than tariffs

America needs foreign investors, and foreign investors need America. Yet clauses buried in the Republican budget bill in Congress are a threat to this crucial symbiosis. Under the obscure “Section 899”, the treasury secretary will gain the power to tax interest, dividends and rent flowing to foreigners in countries with tax systems that the law defines as “unfair”. The rate will start at 5% but could rise as high as 20%. That could mean lower returns for pension funds, governments and individual investors from the rest of the rich world. Companies with operations in America would also be caught in the net when they remit their profits. A separate clause taxes at 3.5% money sent out of the country by any non-citizen.