Effects of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 on the U.S. Energy Industry

Abstract

This empirical research paper uses a combination of archival data and hand collected data to examine firms’ from the U.S. energy industry response to the tax holiday for repatriations provided under the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. The findings of the research paper suggest firms repatriated substantial sums during the holiday period provided by the Act. However, the energy industry did not repatriate foreign earnings to the extent other industries did. The largest firms in the oil and gas industry did not repatriate any funds under the terms of the Act. Further, the study identified only 10 multinational oil and gas firms that repatriated any earnings during the holiday period and these firms repatriated less, both absolutely and relative to total assets, than other repatriating firms.

Keywords: repatriation, tax holiday