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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (225071)	2/5/2002 2:53:27 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769670

Your columnist was smoking something. A few points: From the headline of your posting from the townhall.com ("tax code on trial"), I thought I was going to totally agree with it.... After all, our federal tax code is indeed a scandal, a huge convoluted mess that over-taxes the average Joe while pursuing an irrational Industrial Policy to tilt the playing field in favor of 'favored' industries and market participants who grease the right palms. All this contributes to economic under-performance and immensely high 'compliance costs'. Forbe's tax plans ennunciated during his Presidential run would at least have the virtue of eliminating massive corruption (by eliminating the loopholes) and practically eliminating the estimated $200 billion per year corporate tax compliance costs. But the columnist quoted so many 'facts' that are outright falsehoods, that I had to laugh. First of all, the corporate taxes in 'Germany and Italy' are NOT 'lower than they are in the US'. That's riduculous and causes me to doubt that columnist's sanity. Top corporate rate in Germany falls to 50% this year, for crying out loud! Also, weighed against much of the rest of the developed world, the US is actually considered somewhat of a 'tax haven' for corporations... and it certainly is for foreign individuals (who pay no tax on earnings here)... which explains why the largest portion of the world's offshore 'hot money' is banked here. That exemption has existed since our nation was founded. Furthermore - after taking advantage of the numerous 'special provisions' in the corporate code (read: special interest loopholes) the average corporate tax rate paid is VASTLY lower than the statutory rates, and has effectively been falling. (Just a few examples: Enron... no tax at all in 4 of the last five years, Ford... GM... GE... Cisco... all either no taxes for years, or effective rates paid well below 10%.) I think the poorest quarter of our people would LOVE to see effective tax rates that low. I know I would. On the other hand, I totally agree that dividends a company actually PAYS should not be taxed at all (as the recipient already pays a tax on the money)... but I see NO REASON why interest should be a tax deduction (why should our tax code favor one form of financing <loans> over others <equity, retained earnings, etc.>? Why should we tilt the playing field to the benefit of one industry (banking) and encourage debt? Let's have fair systems, low taxes, free markets, and less special interest pork. Don't hold your breath though.