ABSTRACT
In 1961 the administration proposed a major reform of the Internal Revenue Code which would have increased the taxation of US foreign investment abroad. The debates over the 1962 Revenue Act suggest that corporate and bank managers viewed the ability of their own firms to prosper in relation to the international monetary system from different perspectives. The history of the Revenue Act is important, for it illustrates that, given the rapid growth of direct investment, the state, in order to effectively oppose capital's expansion, has to be politically and programmatically prepared to do more than merely reform tax structures as a means of slowing capital outflow. The failure of the foreign tax provisions of the Revenue Act of 1962 indicates a critical weakness of the US state. The administration made a major push to pass the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the centerpiece of the administration's legislative efforts in that year.
