Thursday, July 07, 2011

Republicans Deceptive About Taxes and the Budget

The Republicans keep arguing that closing tax loopholes and allowing temporary tax-cuts to expire will cause corporations to move and not be able to create jobs. But the fact of the matter is that the United States, even at a 35% corporate tax rate, has the 2nd lowest corporate taxes of all developed nations in the world.

Additionally, most corporations do not actually pay in 35%, but instead take advantage of breaks, loopholes, and deductions that push their actual taxed rate far below 35%…to 21% or 17% or 7% (and sometimes lower). And yes, some companies actually pay NO taxes in the end. In 2009, for example, GE actually got a check back from the government instead of paying anything in taxes.

So, with all these effectively low taxes and tax breaks, what did the majority of these corporations do? They cut jobs.

This should call into question the logic of creating more tax breaks for companies that are presently, regardless of soaring profits and effectively low corporate taxes, shipping jobs overs-seas or eliminating jobs entirely.

The ideology that the Republicans are trying to sell is questionable at best, but flatly a bold-faced lie at worst.

So, we as a nation can afford to give tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy, but we can’t afford to keep schools open or provide police protection in various places. We can afford to put millionaire’s effective tax rate below that of a middle-class individual, but can’t afford to keep Department of Homeland Security offices that police nuclear material being sold on the black market. We can afford to let corporations dodge taxes with tax-haven inside our own borders, but can’t afford to have a group screen our food for deadly strains of E coli.

It seems we as a nation need to sort out our priorities as a people.


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