The head of the largest U.S. business lobbying group on Wednesday floated the idea of suing the Obama administration over new tax regulations designed to keep corporations from moving their headquarters offshore to gain tax benefits.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said on CNBC that among the questions he has asked people about the rules are, “What is the scope of their authority, and is it something you’d sue about?”
Donohue did not immediately answer those questions. He added, though, that a lawsuit would take a long time and corporations would need to deal with the regulations “for a while.”
The regulations, issued by the Treasury Department, have thrown into doubt the viability of tax-evading deals known as inversions and have already felled a would-be $160 billion merger of U.S. drugmaker Pfizer (PFE) and Ireland-based Allegan (AGN).
A Treasury Department spokeswoman said on Tuesday that staff there had taken steps to ensure their plan had a strong basis in law and believed that their authority to act was clear.