The "Pledge to America" is a declaration of irrelevancy.
This week Republicans in the House of Representatives issued an agenda for the future called the "Pledge to America." The idea of making a promise to the American people as was done with the "Contract for America" in the 1990s is an appealing step in the right direction, but the pledge is a timid and unambitious plan, and based on their track record, why should we have any confidence in their willingness to follow through on their promises even if they could with Democrat opposition?…
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26 - John Wilson
The CBO pie chart at the URL is very clear about who pays.
Taxes should be raised for corporations, not lowered. In fact, there is quite a bit of that sentiment in the international financial press.
27 - John
To Dave:
"Leroy, cutting corporate taxes will help bring companies which have offshored back to this country, creating jobs. Job creation creates consumers. Consumers create sales."
False. America has THE lowest corporate tax system in the world. This isn't what's driving jobs over seas. It's NAFTA and other corporations that want to exploit work forces that are non-organized.
We need to being back tariffs like almost every other country has.
28 - John Wilson
And what we need for JOBS is consumer DEMAND. Without demand there is no business, and demand is sagging badly.
Remember, this is a consumer-driven economy.
29 - jeannie danna
Remember, this is a consumer-driven economy, and, a greed-driven society. Greed is the reason why out-sourced cheap labor gives us a huge GNP with no jobs!
30 - Dave Nalle
It's not that corporate taxes are the main driver of the economy. They are just an important factor in encouraging companies to relocate. When our corporate taxes are tied for the highest in the world with Japan (as they are now) then companies which have the choice of where to locate corporate operations and administrative centers look elsewhere.
Dave
31 - Dave Nalle
Plus it's not the percentage of our government's revenue which comes from corporate taxes which matters, it's the relative hit they take from our taxes vs. those of other countries. If they can pay 25% in corporate tax instead of 35% that 10% makes a huge difference to their bottom line.
32 - Dave Nalle
False. America has THE lowest corporate tax system in the world.
This just isn't true at all. We have both state and federal corporate taxes. In some states our combined corporate tax is the highest in the world. In those states with no corporate tax we are 3rd behind France (after it cut its corporate tax rate) and Japan. On average we're about tied with Japan.
Our BASE rate is 20%. That's higher than the total rate in places like Ireland and Hong Kong or Singapore. With state and local taxes our rate goes as high as 35% while the top rates in other developed nations, even in Europe is much lower. Even the UK tops out at 28%, and the highest rates in the EU are now capped at 33.8%, more than a point lower than the highest in the US. 11 European countries have a top corporate tax rate lower than our bsse federal rate, and that includes rather nice industrialized countries like Poland and Hungary.
And to go a step further, consider that the executives who work for companies don't like paying high personal taxes and some of these countries with corporate taxes substantially lower than the US also have low income tax rates.
If I owned a big corporation right now I'd be relocating to Georgia. The top corporate tax is 20%. Income tax is only 12%. VAT is the main source of revenue at 18%. They make some of the best Cognac and wines in the world. The people are friendly and pro-American. They have decent universities. And the next time Russia invades them the invading army can easily be bribed to leave your corporate HQ alone.
Dave