Feingold Gives Support to
Legislation to Lower Drug Costs
Bill ends tax breaks for price-gouging
prescription drug companies
July 5, 2000
Bayfield, WI -- U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
today highlighted
his support for legislation to give consumers a fair price for
prescription drugs. Feingold is a cosponsor of the Prescription Price Equity
Act of 2000, which
would deny tax breaks to pharmaceutical companies that sell
their products at a significantly higher price in the U.S. than to
certain other industrialized countries.
"Thanks to massive tax benefits they receive
from taxpayers, the pharmaceutical industry had an effective tax
rate nearly 40 percent lower than that of other major U.S.
industries from 1990 to 1996," Feingold said. "While
it’s vitally important that the government support research
and development for drugs that can save lives, it’s unfair
that an industry which receives such a huge benefit from taxpayers
should sell its products at much higher prices in the U.S. than it
does abroad."
Pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. receive
approximately $4 billion each year in tax benefits to encourage
research and development for life-saving drugs. Yet, at the same
time, the companies that receive this huge tax break sell drugs in
the U.S. at much higher prices than they do in other countries such
as Japan, Germany and Switzerland. This situation is grossly unfair
to taxpayers, and especially to seniors, who fund the pharmaceutical
industry’s tax break and then must pay sky-high prices for
prescription medication.
" Throughout my service on the Senate Special
Committee on Aging, and my time as Chair of the State Senate’s
Aging Committee, I have worked to help seniors live with
independence and dignity as they age. But for many seniors on fixed
incomes, the cost of paying for prescription drugs drains them of
their economic independence and can force them into poverty or
increased financial dependence on their families," Feingold
said. "That’s why I support the Prescription Price Equity Act of 2000, which would I lessen prescription drug
costs, giving seniors and all consumers the fair prices they
deserve."
Feingold's 43 rd Listening Session of 2000, and 547th since he
was first elected, was held at the Bayfield Lakeside Pavilion, beginning at 8:45 a.m.
Feingold’s 44th
session of the year and 548th since he was first elected took place
at the Bad River Tribe Community
Center beginning at 11 a.m.
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