U.S. multinational companies have been seeking a tax break on overseas income for years, and the top Republican tax writer in Congress is proposing to give it to them. There's a catch they don't like.

Businesses and trade groups are lobbying House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp to loosen rules in his draft plan that would make it harder for companies to shift income from the U.S. to lower-taxed foreign countries. Among those groups is the National Foreign Trade Council, whose board includes officials of Oracle Corp., Pfizer Inc. and PepsiCo Inc.

"It's a good-faith effort, but we are a long way from developing a package that everyone can sign on to," said Catherine Schultz, vice president for tax policy at the trade group, which advocates expanded international commerce. "You would not get a lot of the business community supporting this if this was a final draft."