Last week, Republican Senator Bernie Moreno introduced the Halting International Relocation of Employment (HIRE) Act. The bill would impose a tax on companies that hire foreign workers instead of U.S. citizens. India is already sounding the alarm, but what about Ukraine?
Last week, Republican Senator Bernie Moreno introduced the Halting International Relocation of Employment (HIRE) Act. The bill would impose a tax on companies that hire foreign workers instead of U.S. citizens. India is already sounding the alarm, but what about Ukraine?
Introducing a 25% tax on outsourcing payments. This applies to any payments that a US company or taxpayer makes to a foreign worker if their activities benefit US consumers.
Creation of a "Domestic Labor Fund" to which funds from this tax will be allocated. They will be used to finance internship and professional development programs.
Prohibition on companies from including outsourcing payments as tax-deductible expenses.
The HIRE Act aims to protect American workers from outsourcing.
“As America’s college graduates struggle to find jobs, globalist politicians and top executives have spent decades moving high-paying jobs overseas in pursuit of slave wages and excessive profits — those days are over,” Moreno said. “It’s time to fight for working-class Americans and ensure they can work and retire with dignity. If companies want to hire foreign workers instead of Americans, my bill will hit them where it hurts the most: their wallets.”
First of all, this law could directly hit India's $280 billion IT services industry . Large Indian companies — TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, and Tech Mahindra — derive 50–65% of their revenues from North America.
Meanwhile, Fortune 500 companies in banking, retail, healthcare, and technology also rely on India's workforce. For example, the Indian IT sector exports software services to giants like Apple, American Express, Cisco, Citigroup, FedEx, Home Depot, and more.
According to the study by the IT Ukraine Association "Digital Tiger: the Market Power of Ukrainian IT — 2024", as of December 2024, there were 2,118 active IT companies in Ukraine, 47% of which were outsourcing companies.
The largest of them are EPAM Systems (8,765 technical specialists as of February 2025), GlobalLogic (5,388), SoftServe (5,569), Luxoft (2,800), Intellias (1,761), Ciklum (1,830), Infopulse (1,430), ELEKS (1,224) and Sigma Software (1,379).
For over 10 years, the United States has been the leading importer of Ukrainian IT services. In 2024, IT exports to the United States amounted to $2.397 billion, or 37.2% of the total.
According to the NBU, in the first half of 2025, the volume of exports of computer services amounted to $3,210 million. Of this amount, $1,135 million was from the United States. But this is already 6.41% less than last year.
If the bill is passed, its provisions will come into effect on January 1, 2026, and will apply to payments made after December 31, 2025.
However, Reuters writes that American firms that would be forced to pay such a tax but are directly dependent on foreign IT services are likely to resist this initiative, including in the courts.
