The lead sponsor of US legislation to prevent American companies from operating in Bermuda is once again taking aim at the Island — this time in a campaign ad he has used in his bid for reelection.In the TV spot, US Congressman Richard Neal, who is currently seeking a 13th term in office, vows to continue his fight against the so-called “Bermuda loophole”.Over shots of the Statue of Liberty washed up on a sandy beach, Neal says in the ad, “There are American companies that have chosen to move to countries like Bermuda and the Cayman Islands for the purpose of sophisticated tax avoidance. All you have to do is set up a post office box. I filed legislation to address the issue and we won,” the ad claims.The ad is apparently referring to a bill (H.R. 3157) Rep. Neal has sponsored that would impose costly new taxes on re/insurance companies that provide nearly two-thirds of all reinsurance coverage in the US.But while Rep Neal has been trying for four years to push through his legislation, he has yet to succeed — a point his challenger made in the lead up to September’s primary election.Bill Shein accused Rep Neal of falsely claiming in that TV ad to have successfully closed corporate tax loopholes.“Rep Neal says, ‘I filed legislation to address this issue and we won,’” Mr Shein said. “The clear and unmistakable intention is to mislead voters into believing his legislation passed. It has not.”Rep Neal rebutted those claims, saying he has a long history of working on the issue, and citing the case of a Connecticut tool company that had looked to move overseas, but decided to remain in the United States as evidence of the success of his efforts.Rep Neal ended up defeating Mr Shein in the primary and is now running, unopposed on the November 6 ballot — all but guaranteeing he will serve another term in office. And he’s vowing to take up the issue of a reinsurance tax once he’s back in Washington on November 13.“I intend to continue my effort to address the issues of ending bank secrecy internationally and those companies who move offshore to tax havens for the purpose of sophisticated tax avoidance,” his campaign ad went on to say.First introduced in 2008, the Neal Bill targets the so-called “Bermuda loophole” in American’s tax code — a technicality he says allows re/insurers to avoid paying US taxes by basing their companies on the Island and in other offshore financial centres like the Cayman Islands and Switzerland.In 2009 and 2011, Rep Neal reintroduced the long-stalled legislation. All three times he has failed to garner enough support to get it passed.In February of this year, US President Barack Obama announced he would include a plan to “disallow the deduction for excess non-taxed reinsurance premiums paid to affiliates” as a revenue-raising measure in his Fiscal Year 2013 Budget plan. The proposal, which closely resembled the Neal Bill, sought to raise $111 million in 2013.Rep. Neal claims his bill would raise $11 billion over ten years.Both plans have strongly opposed by the Coalition for Competitive Insurance Rates (CCIR), one of whose members is the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR).They and the re/insurance companies they represent, maintain that the legislation would violate international trade agreements and lead to higher insurance rates on American homeowners and businesses.While the 112th Congress is in recess until after the election, Rep Neal’s legislation could be on the docket for the lame duck session. With the heavily indebted US Government desperate to find new sources of revenue Rep Neal and Sen Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, could very well reintroduce HR 3157 in the House and S 1693 in the Senate before the end of the year.To see Congressman Neal’s campaign ad about the Bermuda loophole, go to:http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6PWDOnwHG_I