Hillary Clinton’s answer to stop American companies from re-incorporating overseas is a corporate exit tax even more restrictive than President Obama’s proposals. For too many politicians the answer is always the same: “We’ll punish those ‘expletives’ for making a profit.”
An “exit tax” will just be added to the cost of the products we buy and make it more difficult for American companies to compete in the global market. At 35 percent, the United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. When you add a state corporate tax, the total is near 40 percent. This is driving American business and capital offshore. Businesses will do what is legal and possible to deliver on their responsibility — provide their shareholders a return on investment. If they can save on taxes, their marketed products will result in lower prices to consumers, and that should be the driving force on tax policy.
In the end, corporations don’t pay taxes — people pay taxes. Tax costs to businesses are always passed on to consumers. Get rid of the damn corporate tax. Make the United States the investment capital of the world. Stop penalizing savings, investing and productivity.
The idea that taxing a corporation reduces taxes is a cruel hoax. A corporate tax only makes what the working poor buy more expensive, costs them jobs, lowers their living standard or delays their retirement.
Tax consumption rather than profits and corporations won’t flee offshore. There is a bill pending in the Congress to do just that. It’s called the FairTax (H.R. 25/S. 155).
Under the FairTax Plan, money retained in the business and reinvested to create jobs, build factories or develop new technologies, pays no tax. A study by the Government Accountability Office estimated that the federal tax system imposed efficiency costs on the U.S. economy of 2 to 5 percent of GDP. Under the FairTax, within 10 years, average Americans will be at least 10 percent and probably 15 percent better off than they would be under the current system. That translates to an increase of $3,000 to $4,500 per household, per year.
This is the most honest, fair, productive tax system possible. Free market competition will do the rest. Individually, earners on payday will receive their total earnings without payroll deductions. There will be no April 15 deadline to disclose earnings and other private information to government — there will be no IRS.
Get onboard the FairTax bandwagon at http://fairtax.com. Congressman Young is a co-sponsor of H.R. 25. Urge Alaska’s U.S. senators to actively support S. 155
Wiley Brooks
