A group of big retailers, transportation companies and other businesses released a letter to lawmakers on Monday marking the anniversary of what they regard as a dubious achievement: The U.S. corporate tax rate became the developed world’s highest one year ago, after Japan lowered its rate.

The RATE coalition (“Reforming America’s Taxes Equitably”) wants Congress to reduce the corporate tax rate, from the current 35%. The coalition – whose members tend to pay at relatively high effective tax rates, even after deductions – is hoping that lawmakers on the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees will agree to bipartisan legislation to overhaul the tax system and cut the U.S. rate.

“Today, at 35%, the top federal statutory corporate tax rate is 10 percentage points above the OECD average and nearly 15 points higher when state and local taxes are included,” says the letter, referring to the 34-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and signed by 21 CEOs. “The costs to our economy are significant and already being realized. According to a new Ernst & Young study, GDP in 2013 is expected to be between 1.2 and 2.0% lower as a result of our OECD-leading corporate tax rate. Simply put, the U.S. can no longer afford to stand still.”