Senate Tax Plan Would End Foreign Income Exclusion.

As the U.S. Senate begins debate on a 421-billion dollar tax-cut package, the construction industry was launching a full-frontal assault to rid the bill of a provision that would have a significant impact on firms and their staff working overseas, including those involved in rebuilding Iraq. The tax bill, narrowly approved 12-9 by the Senate Finance Committee on May 8, 2003, struggled to include a top White House priority to end the double taxation of corporate dividends. The provision repeals the foreign earned income exclusion, Section 911 of the tax law that now allows U.S. taxpayers working overseas to exclude up to 80,000 dollar of income earned in a foreign country from U.S. federal taxes.