WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today issued the following statement after Pfizer and Allergan announced they would abandon their merger citing the Treasury Department’s proposed new regulations aimed at curbing inversions and addressing earnings stripping.

“Massive corporations shouldn’t get to play by different rules than the rest of us,” said Brown. “The abandonment of the Pfizer and Allergan merger speaks to the strength of the Treasury Department’s proposal announced this week. But halting one inversion won’t fix our broken international corporate tax system overnight. We must pursue international tax reform that shuts down tax havens and makes the U.S. more competitive.”

Brown, a member of the Senate Finance Committee and ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, has repeatedly urged Congress to address inversions and take immediate action to address the broken international corporate tax code. He was a member of the Finance Committee’s bipartisan International Tax Reform Working Group. 

In March, Brown introduced the Pay What You Owe Before You Go Act to require corporations who want to shift their headquarters overseas for tax purposes to pay their full U.S. tax bill on all deferred overseas profits before reincorporating in a new country.

###