Election Winners Won't Influence CFO Tax Decisions

Seventy-nine percent of CFOs and senior controllers said they do not plan to make tax decisions based on the outcome of the presidential and congressional elections, according to a survey by Grant Thornton.

"It's a little surprising that so few financial executives plan to make any tax decisions based on who wins the election, considering how much interest there's been in how each candidate plans to tax various kinds of income," said Grant Thornton tax partner Mel Schwarz in a statement.

Tax policy emerged as one of the top issues of the campaign. In another survey, conducted by Ernst & Young at its annual international tax conference, 95 percent of the tax professionals surveyed said they are concerned about U.S. tax legislation that may be enacted in the next two years.

Among those who said they were concerned, the loss of deferral ranked as the main worry for 66 percent of the respondents, followed by 55 percent who cited the tightening of the foreign tax credit rules, and 45 percent who picked the broadening of the tax base. Given the economic climate in the U.S., 68 percent of the respondents believe the greatest need for tax planning this coming year is outside the U.S., mainly in Europe.

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