White House - FACT SHEET: A Better Bargain for the Middle Class: Jobs

[Tx4obama]

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
July 30, 2013

FACT SHEET: A Better Bargain for the Middle Class: Jobs

One of the cornerstones of the President’s plan to create a better bargain for the middle class is to ensure that every American who is willing to work for it will have the opportunity for a good job that pays good wages. In today’s speech, the President laid out an idea that both parties should be able to support to create jobs: a plan that simplifies the tax code for our businesses and gives working families a better deal.

Our current tax code is broken and too complex, with businesses that play by the rules paying a 35% tax rate while many corporations that can hire hundreds of lawyers pay virtually no taxes at all. That is why the President has called for a revenue-neutral simplification of our business tax code to eliminate loopholes that encourage companies to ship jobs overseas and establishes a top tax rate of 28%. Under the President’s proposal, some businesses would pay less, some corporations would pay more, but everyone would pay their fair share. But if we’re going to give businesses a better deal, we should give the people who work there a better deal too. Today, the President is calling for a pro-growth tax reform and jobs package that would be fully offset using one-time revenues raised as we transition to a new business tax system. The transition revenue would support much-needed investments such as modernizing our infrastructure; creating new manufacturing hubs; and training our workers with the skills they need for the jobs of today and tomorrow. At the same time, President Obama remains committed to pursuing a long-term deficit reduction deal that includes revenue-raising individual tax reform and a balanced approach to replacing the damaging sequester.

The bottom line is that the President will work with Republicans on a package to simplify our business tax code so long as it includes real investments to help restore middle class security, create jobs and grow the economy.

Summary of the Pro-Growth Tax Reform and Jobs Package

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Full post with 'summary' here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/30/fact-sheet-better-bargain-middle-class-jobs

[SunSeeker]

1. K & R

[jade3000]

2. Glad he's at least trying

It only took 4.5 years.

[4dsc]

3. Don't lower the RATE!!

This is not fair to the workers of America. Sounds like a republican sound bite.


Tax capital not wages.

[Fumesucker]

4. Some businesses would pay less but some corporations would pay more

Interesting way of putting it.

The bottom line is that the President will work with the Republicans to simplify our tax code.

Forsooth?

[daleanime]

5. 30+ years of tax cuts.....

where's the flood of jobs we should have.

[adirondacker]

16. You would think someone in power looking out for the middle class would have asked that question

on frequent occasion.

[Bill USA]

6. U.S. Corporations pay among the lowest Income tax rates in all the developed world. Talk of

lowering rates corporations pay is obscene. There should be a minimum tax rate for Corporations so they pay a legitimate amount of taxes. Many corporations pay zero or 'negative' tax rates.. The only way this should happen, possibly, is if their R&D budget was half their expenditures. Perhaps then they should enjoy significant tax breaks - but this would have to be for real, with legitimate review of their R&D expenditures.

Big Companies Paid a Fraction of Corporate Tax Rate

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/02/business/big-companies-paid-a-fraction-of-corporate-tax-rate.html?_r=0


The biggest, most profitable American companies paid only a fraction of the taxes they would owe under the official corporate rate, according to a study released on Monday by the Government Accountability Office.

Using allowed deductions and legal loopholes, large corporations enjoyed a 12.6 percent tax rate far below the 35 percent tax that is the statutory rate imposed by the federal government on corporate profits.

The findings come amid rising criticism of the tactics that some big companies use to lower their tax bills.

In May, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations examined the practices of Apple, in particular how the technology giant had used overseas subsidiaries to sidestep billions in taxes. At a hearing in late May on Capitol Hill, Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, insisted that the company had fully complied with tax laws and had paid all it legally owed, both here and abroad.
(more)

Corporate Taxpayers & Corporate Tax Dodgers, 2008-2010
(emphases my own)

http://ctj.org/corporatetaxdodgers/

NEW REPORT: 280 Most Profitable U.S. Corporations Shelter Half Their Profits from Taxes.

[font color="blue"]“These 280 corporations received a total of nearly $224 billion in tax subsidies,” [/font]said Robert McIntyre, Director at Citizens for Tax Justice and the report’s lead author. “This is wasted money that could have gone to protect Medicare, create jobs and cut the deficit.”

[font color="red"] 30 Companies average less than zero tax bill in the last three Years, 78 had at least one no-tax year.

Financial services received the largest share of all federal tax subsidies over the last three years[/font]. More than half the tax subsidies for companies in the study went to four industries: financial services, utilities, telecommunications, and oil, gas & pipelines.

U.S. corporations with significant foreign profits paid tax rates to foreign countries that were almost a third higher than they paid to the IRS on their domestic profits.

Full Report here

Read our Press Release with Key Findings

[1StrongBlackMan]

7. You do realize …

That the proposal that President Obama has offered closes many of the loop-holes that allow corporations to pay among the lowest effective tax rates … right?

If the final negotiated tax rate is 285, or even as low as 13%, there would be a net INCREASE in taxes collected (depending on which loop holes are closed). How is that a bad thing?

[Fearless]

8. It should be higher.

[1StrongBlackMan]

9. WHY? ...

If it is tied directly to jobs creation, incentivizes job on-shoring and profit returns ... Why shouldn't we turn the bogus high rate into a higher effective rate?

[Fearless]

10. I believe the 1950's through early 70's are evidence enough

That higher corporate taxes do not impact job growth in a negative way. As also evidenced by every other first world nation in the world. The income inequality in this nation is out of control and taxation is the number one way to get it under control.

[1StrongBlackMan]

11. I think ...

you are conflating corporate taxation with individual taxation.
To argue that higher corporate taxation rates has no negative impact on job growth is just plain non-factual.

Mind you ... I am not arguing for trickle-down.

But that said, in the context of this proposal, why shouldn't we reduce the corporate statutory rate, while closing loop holes ... thereby, raising the effective rate? Especially, in the context of tying such a move to infrastructure repair (jobs), incentizing on shoring of manufacturing jobs (more jobs), incentizing investments in small business (more jobs), a minimum corporate tax (revenue), and punishing off-shoring of profits (more revenue)?

[Fearless]

12. Actually no.

Corporations would rather invest in their employees than pay taxes. This is seen hundreds of times throughout history. I am not confusing anything.

[1StrongBlackMan]

13. What we have seen ...

since 1980 is corporations "investing in" the CEOs and executives, not the workers (which increases the inequaity). No increase in tax rates is going to change that ... unless that increase is tied to rules that limit the amount going to the C-Suite.

[Fearless]

14. What we have seen during and since that time is a LOWERING of corporate tax rates.

[1StrongBlackMan]

15. I know ...

through the loop-hole, that this proposal seeks to close. The statutory rate has, largely, remained the same.

[midnight]

17. Working with Republicans to simplify our business tax code... If you supply a job-you pay no taxes.

That should put everyone back to work pronto...