Charles Schumer (center) and his selfless buddies on their way to stimulate the US economy
Senator Charles E. Schumer, not content with ludicrous attempts to tax the US consumer for taking an offshore call, has continued his personal tirade against the use of offshore services, by pushing through legislation to add a further $2,000 tax for an H-1B visa application, and $2,250 more for an L-1 visa application. This CIO Magazine article by journalist Stephanie Overby does an excellent job discussing the situation.
You have to wonder about the motives of a US senator, who describes Infosys as a “chop shop” and pushes through legislation that is deigned to antagonize service providers, as opposed to what he should be doing: helping to make US service providers become more competitive, and US IT / BPO workers more attractive to be hired than those offshore.
In terms of creating more US IT jobs, this is a further backward step in trying to re-energize the US IT industry for the following reasons:
1) Indian IT services providers will attempt to conduct more IT work offshore / outside of the US, whereas in the past they would have conducted the work locally with either a US employee, or an Indian visa holder in the US. Impact: more work moves offshore as opposed to onshore work being created
2) Indian IT service providers have been investing heavily in hiring onshore staff, and have been creating local employment. However, the new visa taxes will only help to accelerate the movement of more complex IT work offshore. The Indian providers have a proven successful strategy of taking on complex IT projects and “learning on the job” with their offshore personnel. This new fee will only encourage them to take bolder steps to take more work offshore. Impact: more work moves offshore as opposed to onshore work being created …
You can read the full article by clicking here.
