Obama to cut tax sops for firms outsourcing jobs

Washington: Making a strong pitch to discourage outsourcing of jobs, US President Barack Obama on Tuesday said America's present tax structure gives incentives for shipping jobs overseas, a trend that needs to be reversed with incentives aimed at creating jobs inside the country.

In the midst of a mid-term election campaign, Obama has already made his stand on the issue clear, and has supported cutting down tax incentives to companies outsourcing jobs.

The issue of outsourcing has been a matter of concern for India, which is today largely recognised as the world's back office, and benefits from a major chunk of outsourced jobs.

Criticising the policies of the last Republican administration, Obama said: "We had two tax cuts that weren't paid for, two wars that weren't paid for that were hugely expensive. We put off solving health-care costs that were skyrocketing. We didn't solve college tuition costs that were skyrocketing."

"We didn't have an energy policy. We were seeing jobs being shipped overseas because of the way our tax structure gave them incentives," Obama said.

Touching on his government's policies on the issue, the President said: "We have put forward proposals, for example, to accelerate investment here in the US instead of overseas, in research and development, in plants and equipment that could put people back to work."

Obama continued to blame Republicans for the current economic crisis in the country and a high unemployment rate. "Now think about this. From 2001 to the time I took office, your average wages went down 5 percent. We took a record surplus, under Bill Clinton, and took it to record deficits."

But, the US President asserted that his administration has taken steps that have resulted in quick turnaround of the country, though it still has a long way to go.

“An economy that was shrinking is now growing. We have finally tackled tough challenges like health care that we have been putting off for decades.”

"I have put forward proposals that are going to require bipartisan cooperation in order for us to get government spending under control. And I am confident that if we stay on a course that gets us back to old-fashioned values of hard work and responsibility and looking out for one another, that America will thrive, that the 21st century will be an American century again," Obama said.