OCC and U.S. Securities Markets Coalition Oppose Wyden Amendment in Letter to Senate Finance Committee Members

OCC and the U.S. Securities Markets Coalition (Cboe, Nasdaq, and ICE/NYSE) wrote a letter to the Senate Finance Committee sharing their opposition to an amendment filed by Senator Wyden to the Chairman's Mark of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that would add the language of the Senator's proposed Modernization of Derivatives Act of 2017 (MODA). OCC and the Coalition believe MODA would impose significant and unfair tax costs and complexities on taxpayers who use exchange-traded options, and such costs would greatly harm the exchange-traded options markets, reduce liquidity, and increase trading costs, with the repercussions felt in the underlying stock markets as investors and other market participants would be unable to allocate efficiently the risks associated with owning stocks.