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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmerican corporations unite to demand lower taxes
A group of major American corporations have joined forces to demand an overhaul of the tax system.
RATE, which stands for Reforming Americas Taxes Equitably, was started last October when 13 companies came together to protest Americas high corporate tax rate. Led by Republican strategist James Pinkerton and former Bill Clinton aide Elaine Karmack, the RATE Coalition is pushing for what they call sound and equitable reforms to the U.S. corporate tax code.
The groups spokesman, Jim Dyke, told The Daily Caller that RATE was formed and continues to grow as a means to advocate for reform with lawmakers and the administration while educating the public about the facts surrounding the need for a reduction in the corporate rate.
The U.S. has one of the highest statutory corporate tax rates in the world, and RATE argues that the burden imposed by those taxes makes America less competitive in the global economy. And their message seems to be catching on with Americas big businesses: as of January, RATE represents 25 corporations that together employ millions of Americans.
According to the press release, RATEs members include: AT&T, Altria Client Services Inc., Association of American Railroads, Boeing, Capital One, Cox Enterprises, CVS Caremark, FedEx, Ford, General Dynamics, Home Depot, Intel, Kimberly-Clark, Lockheed Martin, Macys, National Retail Federation, Nike, Raytheon, Texas Instruments, Time Warner Cable, T-Mobile, UPS, Verizon, Viacom and Walt Disney.
http://news.yahoo.com/american-corporations-unite-demand-lower-taxes-053210485.html
JFN1
(2,033 posts)Yeah, right, that'll happen...
murielm99
(30,761 posts)There is nothing equitable about lower taxes for all these wealthy corporations.
Anyway, if they leave off the equitably part, their acronym will be RAT. That makes better sense.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)I'd say.
THis makes my blood boil... these shwarmy bastards just don't know when
to quit do they?
Duly noted.
socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)are the capitalists.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)ellisonz
(27,711 posts)Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)Tax rates in European countries have mostly been dropped. The US and Japan are now the outliers.
But we recognize that in the US by giving all these special tax breaks to companies that spend a lot of money lobbying Congress, so although we have a theoretically high corporate tax rate, a lot of large companies are paying very little in taxes. It is smaller companies, especially startups that are beginning to expand, who bear the brunt of corporate taxation. That is a very stupid way to structure your corporate tax. Those smaller companies are the big job creators, historically.
It would be far more equitable to drop all the special deals and charge a flat tax rate of 25%. I think we would end up collecting considerably more corporate income tax, generating more jobs, and we'd provide an incentive to invest less corporate tax money paying off Congress. That would be a plus for our political system and societal health.
However if we do do this, the law doing it should have prohibitions against adding a bunch of tax breaks, or we'll simply produce a worse situation. For example, We might build in the capacity for Congress to add faster expensing of equipment in times of recession or economic weakness as a stimulus, but it should have an automatic time out of something like two years.
The fact that GE isn't paying any taxes should be a wake-up call to us all. The expansion of the loss carrybacks was a bad move, because it really paid a lot of companies that were responsible for the bubble big dividends.
I'm pissed at our corporate tax system, and every American who doesn't make a living lobbying should be too! For corporate lobbyists, the current situation is great.
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)They ARE people, you know.
I wonder how many of those companies could survive without the federally-created right of ways for rails and highways.