I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5456 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to end the tax subsidy for 
employer efforts to influence their workers’ exercise of their rights around 
labor organizations and engaging in collective action. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 14, 2023 
Mr. NORCROSS (for himself, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. BLUNT 
ROCHESTER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. BUDZINSKI, Mr. CAR-
SON, Mr. CASAR, Mr. CASTEN, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CLEAVER, 
Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. COURTNEY, Ms. CRAIG, Mr. CROW, Mr. CUELLAR, 
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. 
DELUZIO, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. 
ESPAILLAT, Mr. EVANS, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. FROST, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. 
GARAMENDI, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. ROBERT 
GARCIA of California, Mr. GOLDEN of Maine, Mr. GOLDMAN of New 
York, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Ms. HOYLE 
of Oregon, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KHANNA, 
Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KIM of New Jersey, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. 
KUSTER, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. LOF-
GREN, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. MAGAZINER, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGARVEY, 
Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. MRVAN, Mr. 
MULLIN, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. NICKEL, 
Ms. NORTON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. OMAR, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PA-
NETTA, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PHILLIPS, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. POCAN, Ms. 
PORTER, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. 
SARBANES, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SHER-
MAN, Ms. SHERRILL, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. 
SORENSEN, Mr. SOTO, Ms. STANSBURY, Mrs. SYKES, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. 
TITUS, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. TONKO, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. TRONE, 
Ms. UNDERWOOD, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WATERS, Mrs. 
WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. WILD, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. WILSON 
of Florida, Mr. TORRES of New York, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Ms. LOIS 
FRANKEL of Florida, Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. CHU, Ms. 
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 
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A BILL 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to end the 
tax subsidy for employer efforts to influence their work-
ers’ exercise of their rights around labor organizations 
and engaging in collective action. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Tax Breaks for 
Union Busting (NTBUB) Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) The National Labor Relations Act (29 
U.S.C. 151 et seq.) declares that it is the right of 
employees to form, join, or assist labor organiza-
tions. 
(2) The National Labor Relations Act further 
declares that it is ‘‘the policy of the United States 
to eliminate the causes of certain substantial ob-
structions to the free flow of commerce and to miti-
gate and eliminate these obstructions when they 
have occurred by encouraging the practice and pro-
cedure of collective bargaining and by protecting the 
exercise by workers of full freedom of association, 
self-organization, and designation of representatives 
of their own choosing . . .’’. 
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(3) Despite Congress’ intention to give workers 
full agency in these matters, many employers regu-
larly choose to involve themselves, lawfully or unlaw-
fully, in the decisions of their employees about 
whether to avail themselves of their rights under the 
National Labor Relations Act and the Railway 
Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 151 et seq.). 
(4) Employers frequently violate labor laws 
around organizing and collective action. The Eco-
nomic Policy Institute finds that in approximately 4 
of 10 labor organization elections in 2016–2017 em-
ployers were charged with committing an unfair 
labor practice. Among larger bargaining units of 61 
employees or more, over 54 percent of elections have 
an unfair labor practice charge. 
(5) In practice, these unfair labor practices 
often include charges such as employees being ille-
gally fired for labor organization activity, refusal to 
bargain in good faith with labor organizations, or co-
ercion and intimidation. Employers also frequently 
use captive audience meetings, workplace surveil-
lance, and other lawful or unlawful tactics to sway 
labor organization elections. 
(6) Whether or not there are charges of unlaw-
ful behavior, employers spend millions of dollars to 
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sway the opinions of their employees with respect to 
whether or how to exercise their rights under the 
National Labor Relations Act and the Railway 
Labor Act. According to the Economic Policy Insti-
tute, companies spent $340,000,000 yearly on out-
side consultants to sway their workers’ opinions 
about labor organization activities. This and other 
spending interfere with the United States goal of 
‘‘encouraging the practice and procedure of collective 
bargaining’’. 
(7) The Internal Revenue Code of 1986 has 
long recognized that spending by businesses with the 
purpose of influencing the general public with re-
spect to elections, while it may be lawful, is not tax 
deductible. Congress should extend that principle to 
spending done by employers to influence workers’ 
elections and collective bargaining decisions. These 
free choices to exercise the rights to engage in collec-
tive bargaining, labor organization representation, 
and other lawful collective activities should be made 
without taxpayer subsidies of undue outside influ-
ence from employers. 
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SEC. 3. DENIAL OF DEDUCTION FOR ATTEMPTING TO IN-
FLUENCE EMPLOYEES WITH RESPECT TO 
LABOR ORGANIZATIONS OR LABOR ORGANI-
ZATION ACTIVITIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 162(e)(1) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 
end of subparagraph (C), by striking the period at the end 
of subparagraph (D) and inserting ‘‘, or’’, and by adding 
at the end the following new subparagraph: 
‘‘(E) any attempt to influence the tax-
payer’s employees with respect to labor organi-
zations or labor organization activities, includ-
ing with respect to the opinion of such employ-
ees regarding such organizations or activities.’’. 
(b) LABOR ORGANIZATIONS; LABOR ORGANIZATION 
ACTIVITIES DEFINED.—Section 162(e) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by redesignating para-
graph (6) as paragraph (7) and by inserting after para-
graph (5) the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(6) LABOR ORGANIZATIONS AND LABOR ORGA-
NIZATION ACTIVITY DEFINED.—For purposes of this 
subsection— 
‘‘(A) LABOR
ORGANIZATION.—The term 
‘labor organization’ has the meaning given such 
term in section 3 of the Labor-Management Re-
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porting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 
402). 
‘‘(B) LABOR ORGANIZATION ACTIVITY.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘labor 
organization activity’ means labor organi-
zation elections, labor disputes, collective 
actions, and such other related activities 
identified by the Secretary. 
‘‘(ii) OTHER TERMS.—For purposes of 
clause (i)— 
‘‘(I) COLLECTIVE
ACTION.—The 
term ‘collective action’ means any ac-
tion, including collective bargaining, 
described in section 7 of the National 
Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 157) 
or any action that is a right of em-
ployees or labor organizations under 
the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 
151 et seq.). 
‘‘(II) 
LABOR
DISPUTE.—The 
term ‘labor dispute’ has the meaning 
given such term under section 3 of the 
Labor-Management 
Reporting 
and 
Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 
402). 
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‘‘(III) 
LABOR
ORGANIZATION 
ELECTION.—The term ‘labor organi-
zation election’ means any election de-
scribed in section 9 of the National 
Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159) 
or section 2 of the Railway Labor Act 
(45 U.S.C. 152).’’. 
(c) SPECIAL RULES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 162(e)(4) of the In-
ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subparagraph: 
‘‘(D) EXPENSES RELATING TO LABOR OR-
GANIZATIONS OR LABOR ORGANIZATION ACTIVI-
TIES.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—For purposes of 
paragraph (1)(E), amounts paid or in-
curred in connection with attempting to in-
fluence the taxpayer’s employees with re-
spect to labor organizations or labor orga-
nization activities include— 
‘‘(I) any amount paid or incurred 
directly or indirectly by the taxpayer, 
including wages and other general and 
administrative costs, in connection 
with an action that results in— 
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‘‘(aa) a complaint issued 
under section 10 of the National 
Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 
160) against the taxpayer for an 
unfair labor practice under sec-
tion 8(a) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 
158(a)), 
‘‘(bb) a settlement offer re-
lated to an investigation by the 
National Labor Relations Board 
of a charge of an unfair labor 
practice under section 8(a) of 
such Act (29 U.S.C. 158(a)) that 
results in a settlement of such 
charge without issuance of a 
complaint under section 10 of 
such Act (29 U.S.C. 160), or 
‘‘(cc) a finding of inter-
ference, influence, or coercion by 
a Federal court under section 2 
of the Railway Labor Act (45 
U.S.C. 152), 
‘‘(II) any amount paid or in-
curred directly or indirectly by the 
taxpayer, including wages and other 
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general and administrative costs, in 
producing, conducting, or attending 
any meeting or training— 
‘‘(aa) which includes employ-
ees of the taxpayer who are or 
who could become members of a 
unit appropriate for the purposes 
of collective bargaining, and 
‘‘(bb) at which labor organi-
zations or a labor organization 
activity is discussed, and 
‘‘(III) any amount which is re-
quired to be reported under the 
Labor-Management 
Reporting 
and 
Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 
401 et seq.). 
‘‘(ii) 
EXCEPTIONS.—The 
following 
amounts shall not be treated as amounts 
paid or incurred in connection with at-
tempting to influence the taxpayer’s em-
ployees with respect to labor organizations 
or labor organization activities under para-
graph (1)(E): 
‘‘(I) Amounts paid or incurred 
for communications or negotiations di-
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rectly with the designated or selected 
representative of the employees of the 
taxpayer described in section 9(a) of 
the National Labor Relations Act (29 
U.S.C. 159(a)) or under the Railway 
Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 151 et seq.). 
‘‘(II) Amounts paid or incurred 
for 
communications 
directly 
with 
shareholders, as may be required 
under section 13 of the Securities Ex-
change Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m). 
‘‘(III) Amounts paid or incurred 
for communications or consultations 
by the taxpayer in the process of vol-
untarily recognizing a labor organiza-
tion as a representative in accordance 
with section 9 of the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159). 
‘‘(IV) Amounts paid or incurred 
with respect to the operation of a 
labor-management 
partnership 
de-
scribed in a collective bargaining 
agreement in effect between a rep-
resentative of employees of the tax-
payer and the taxpayer, including a 
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labor management committee estab-
lished pursuant to section 205A(a) of 
the Labor Management Relations Act, 
1947 (29 U.S.C. 175a(a)). 
‘‘(V) Amounts paid or incurred 
for communications or consultations 
related to the operation of a grievance 
procedure described in a collective 
bargaining agreement in effect be-
tween a representative of employees of 
the taxpayer and the taxpayer. 
‘‘(VI) Amounts paid or incurred 
by a labor organization. 
‘‘(VII) Amounts paid or incurred 
for communication materials, includ-
ing visual or audio media, required to 
be posted for, or provided to, employ-
ees of the taxpayer by law, including 
under the National Labor Relations 
Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) or the 
Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 151 et 
seq.). 
‘‘(VIII) Amounts paid or in-
curred relating to a complaint which 
is issued by the National Labor Rela-
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