Obama seeks 28 percent corp. tax rate (down from 35 percent)

The Obama administration is proposing to lower the corporate tax rate from the current 35 percent, the highest in the world after Japan. Manufacturers would receive incentives so that their effective tax rate could be even lower. In turn, corporations would have to give up dozens of loopholes and subsidies that they now enjoy. Corporations with overseas operations would also face an unspecified minimum tax on their foreign earnings.

The proposal outlined by Geithner would also eliminate tax loopholes and subsidies that Geithner called "fundamentally unfair." Obama also would set a minimum tax on the foreign earning of U.S. companies. "We want to restore a system in which American businesses succeed or fail based on the products they make and the services they provide, not on the creativity of their tax engineers or the lobbyists they hire," Geithner said.

Chances of accomplishing such change in the tax system are slim in a year dominated mostly with presidential and congressional elections. But for Obama, the proposal is part of a larger tax plan that is central to his re-election strategy. Geithner acknowledged that the debate "will be politically contentious." "Some will say these proposals are too tough on business, and others will say that they're not tough enough," he said.

Obama's plan would be part of a larger effort to overhaul the U.S. tax system and it dovetails with Obama's call for raising taxes on millionaires and maintaining current rates on individuals making $200,000 or less. While the 35 percent nominal corporate tax rate ranks among the highest, deductions, credits and exemptions allow many corporations to pay taxes at a much lower rate.

Under the framework proposed by the administration, the rate cuts, closed loopholes and the minimum tax on overseas earning would result in no increase to the deficit.

link

I think this is a very good plan. Close tax loopholes and tax havens, essentially tax overseas profits, along with giving tax breaks and right offs on equipment for small businesses and corporations that hire here. Many transnational corporation are not paying anywhere near 35 percent...some pay zero taxes.

Of course the devil is in the details...but on the surface this looks like a good plan to spur hiring here in the US....and at the same time quit rewarding corporations for sending american jobs overseas.

This is ultimately want we want...right...jobs? We work to fixing the job problem and that will automatically start to fix other problems.

For as many that are unemployed, if there were a great influx of new jobs coming into the country...we could see an economic boom....along with increased revenue to stave off the deficit by getting people off unemployment and many programs they need right now that is increasing our debt.

Gas prices will be the wild card though....definitely need to do something about oil speculation on wall street.

Your so right, especially with politicians, the devil is definitely in the details.

I totally agree with at least at face value it sounds good. If it is actually as he puts it, then its one of the few things I agree with him on.

Yeah, unfortunately, him and congress created this mess and the sheeple (we had a democratic congress since '06)
and now, he is going to create (or attempt to create) an economic boom. After that his minions will put forth the message that he really did save the world and so on a so forth.

This is a great plan that gives some to both sides.

Conservatives get a lower corporate rate that they have been wanting, and liberals get a clamp down on the loopholes and sheltering profits overseas.

The only complain conservatives can have with this is that the rate isn't lowered enough...but they can't claim that Obama is trying to raise taxes. They might...but it will be a hard sell.

Liberals may complain that there should be no reduction and just the closure of the loopholes and overseas shelters. But that is not how you get business done...you have to offer something up to get what you want.

Ultimately...if this increases tax revenue from corporations and gets rid of the incentive for them to hide profits overseas, it's a win win.

On the surface, so far...I like this plan.

you mean in his poster boy from GE would have to pay more than zero dollars in taxes next year? lulz

reply to post by LittleBlackEagle


Like we said, at face value. We all know that legislation has a pretty face, but its very ugly on the inside.

I was checking a bit..and this is a great move in the right direction, if the strings and fine print of a real proposal is what the words to the Media make it sound like. Hmm... There is that though... Nothing presented at a podium these days ever seems to make it into written form with much to recognize between the two.

I'd also note that while it at least takes us out of the very top nations in the world for Corp tax rate...it only puts us a hair below the high side of average. Enough to keep business from leaving? Hmm.. Perhaps.... Enough to bring any back? Why bother, when this doesn't make tax rates an incentive and without some hard details in a final form, there is nothing to say the next President (or this one) won't just change it back up in a year or two.

Let's drop that to 10-12% as a couple other nations have done, and solidify that in some way to give business the sense that it isn't a passing fad to 'Gotcha' them as soon as they are moved back here and getting settled.

I'm sure wondering what his liberal base must be thinking though. This is the kind of idea a Republican would champion. I have a hard time believing Obama had a sea change of ideology all of the sudden.

Originally posted by calnorak
reply to post by LittleBlackEagle

 

Like we said, at face value. We all know that legislation has a pretty face, but its very ugly on the inside.

so true. i think it's pretty gullible for us to think there is anyway to compete with cheap labor, you really cannot win no matter what you do it seems. next step is we will see sweat shops and cheap plastic/die-cast metal shops attached directly to the back of every Walmart, filled with Chinese immigrant workers..

This is really like a tariff in some regards....we will essentially be taxing slave labor. Will raise some prices likely....but more importantly it will promote job creation here.

That's a good thing.

Like i stated...the devil's in the details!!!

And no way will this ever pass in an election year....i think this is a great platform to run on and a good starting point IMO.

Was reading the comments on yahoo from where the link is from...people are trashing it without really knowing anything about it.

I think this is definitely a step in the right direction.

So for all of the Obama supporters who have clamored for higher taxes on corporations, how does this idea sound to you?

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

I'm sure wondering what his liberal base must be thinking though. This is the kind of idea a Republican would champion. I have a hard time believing Obama had a sea change of ideology all of the sudden.

Well the GOP wants to lower the corporate tax rate far lower than that (depends on the person of course), and some don't even want to close the loopholes in the process.

Ultimately, there is going to have to be some compromise and we all need to accept it.

reply to post by GeorgiaGirl

So for all of the Obama supporters who have clamored for higher taxes on corporations, how does this idea sound to you?

This essentially punishes corporations using slave labor (which will protect American wages), closes loopholes, and promotes US job creation. Not exactly what I would want to do personally but it's a good start.

Dont forget this is an election year.

Politicians seem to promise all kinds of things to get votes. After the election, they forget or blame the other side for not allowing it to happen.

Just blowing more smoke IMO

This is what we should have been doing all along. Honoring the companies that manufacture and sell here in the USA, and punishing those who move production offshore. Believe it or not, you can make a living and profit even when dealing with slightly increased taxes and environmental restrictions. The problem is these people are driven by greed. They're not happy with one million, nor two million, nor ten million. They move production offshore to make tens of millions while people suffer in sweat shops and we recieve inferior goods.

If you want to sell here, you need to play by our rules.

Consider the sources.

When have these guys ever passed a law that was what they originally said ?

One loud missing point is Jobs.

Corporations pay millions to tax advisers.

I wonder how many companies will relocate to foreign countries ?

from another article

Reducing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 28% would reduce tax revenues by about $700bn over the next decade, according to an estimate prepared in October by the Joint Committee on Taxation, the official scorekeeper for Congress.

That means lawmakers would have to find about $70bn a year in tax increases to keep the package from adding to the budget deficit, hardly an easy task. In 2010, the corporate income tax raised a total of $278bn, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Corporate income taxes have been shrinking as a share of overall federal taxes for decades. In 2010, corporate income taxes made up just 12% of all federal tax receipts, down from 24% in 1960, according to the IRS.

Obama proposes corporate tax cut and says system needs to change

Guess who pays THAT !!

reply to post by David9176


Okay, this makes sense. And it needs to happen.

In turn, corporations would have to give up dozens of loopholes and subsidies that they now enjoy. Corporations with overseas operations would also face an unspecified minimum tax on their foreign earnings.

This...could...almost.......almost.....be seen as a swipe against the bankers and corporatists?

I mean, who here can actually oppose this? Its huge to notice the "forum players" who havent even had the courage to show up on this topic (hey boncho, beezzer, blaine1976, neo96, etc., etc., etc.,)

Most of the "right thinkers" that have shown up to this thread call it "election year smoke", or discount by saying "it always SOUNDS great..."
What. the. hell.

Here is something we can ALL agree on, this is something we hear complaining about every day, and Obama is promising to make it happen, and he cant even get people to agree with him.

In Washington, Romney and Gingrich already oppose this. WHY??
WHAT IS WRONG WITH EVERYBODY?

Sometimes, it feels like Im in the middle of a pack of gazelles and the lions surround us, but all the other gazelles want to protect the lions, while watching them eat us.

Originally posted by GeorgiaGirl
So for all of the Obama supporters who have clamored for higher taxes on corporations, how does this idea sound to you?

This sounds GREAT, because most corporations pay nothing in tax and even get refunds due to loopholes. 25% is ALOT more than what they are paying now, which is why you hear all this opposition from Corporate Robot Asshats, I mean Republican Leadership.

Originally posted by calnorak
Yeah, unfortunately, him and congress created this mess and the sheeple (we had a democratic congress since '06)
and now, he is going to create (or attempt to create) an economic boom. After that his minions will put forth the

How are people allowed to tell such blatant lies and not get modded for political trolling? We have had a Democratic Congress since 06? Do you know what year it is? Are you aware the Republicans control the House of Representatives, and have for 2 years?
How did Obama and a democratic congress "cause this mess"? The economy has been collapsing since 9/11. Yknow, the entire presidency of good ole George W. and the Republican House and Senate of the early 2000s.....sheesh the rewriting of history will never cease. We just lived through that, you cant lie to me how it happened.

America has been collapsing since it became a corporate dictactorship.

Now Obama the Saviour wants another corporate tax cut, well can anybody tell me how the last cut help anybody in the nation specially with jobs.

I though so.

Wishful thinking for pre election promises.

See this all a pony show,

In the past three years, 30 of the nation's largest corporations have paid zero federal income tax. Less than 10 percent of total U.S. tax revenue currently comes from businesses. For much of the 20th century, that number was closer to 30 percent. As a percentage of total American economic output, corporate tax collections are at historical lows.

So people you are smart enough do the math and then we should make our corporate whore politicians tells the nation how they will accomplish with this proposed tax help the nation after knowing that is nothing but a political hoax

www.dailymail.co.uk... l

Originally posted by marg6043
America has been collapsing since it became a corporate dictactorship.

Now Obama the Saviour wants another corporate tax cut, well can anybody tell me how the last cut help anybody in the nation specially with jobs.

I though so.

Wishful thinking for pre election promises.

See this all a pony show,

In the past three years, 30 of the nation's largest corporations have paid zero federal income tax. Less than 10 percent of total U.S. tax revenue currently comes from businesses. For much of the 20th century, that number was closer to 30 percent. As a percentage of total American economic output, corporate tax collections are at historical lows.

So people you are smart enough do the math and then we should make our corporate whore politicians tells the nation how they will accomplish with this proposed tax help the nation after knowing that is nothing but a political hoax

www.dailymail.co.uk... l

yes indeed and it has been going down as a means of bribing big corps to keep the jobs here and the corps in turn, milked it and ran anyway. we cannot compete with slave labor, all we can do is try to change the work force over seas and help them say enough is enough. i mean when workers are hurling themselves off of roof tops, something real bad is going on.

doesn't matter how many spin city bills the phoneys in D.C pass, they always seem to leave new loop holes for the corps to find, anyone ever notice that? then it takes several more years to catch up with them.

reply to post by LittleBlackEagle


What can you expect when the ones making the laws are the corporate pimps and the ones passing the laws are the corporate whores politicians.

Nothing is coming out of any new laws or the enforcement of pre existing laws as long as America is run by a corporate dictatorship.

Only hope and wishful thinking that a Saviour politician will raise up and fight corruption is what keeps the population and voters oblivious of what goes on in Washington.

Never trust what comes out of the mouth of any politician in our nation.