California Proposes Eliminating Water's-Edge Election

California Senator Ricardo Lara has introduced SB 567 which would eliminate the water's-edge election for corporations who file California combined returns. Corporations would be required to file on a worldwide basis.

The bill would remove the water’s-edge election for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, and would specify that existing electors would be unable to elect to file using the water’s-edge method for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2023.

I have written on this subject before as to why states may not want to require worldwide reporting. The California Department of Finance believes water's-edge reporting is costing the state $2.3 billion in revenue currently. The problem with that figure is that it may not be accurate every year once worldwide reporting is the only option. Also, since the goal of federal tax reform is to encourage and increase investment in the United States, would requiring worldwide tax reporting lower tax revenue in California due to apportionment factor dilution?