As usual, Pat is correct!!! On Fri, May 31, 2013 at 8:19 AM, MJ <[email protected]> wrote:
> > *Abolish the Corporate Income Tax! > *by Patrick J. Buchanan > > Before his committee sat, unapologetic and uncontrite, Apple CEO Tim Cook, > whose company had paid no U.S. corporate income taxes on the $74 billion it > had earned abroad in recent years. > > "Apple has sought the Holy Grail of tax avoidance," said Levin. "Apple has > exploited an absurdity." > > Actually, Apple had done nothing wrong, except hire some crack accountants > who chose Ireland's County Cork as the headquarters of their international > division. Thus Apple paid on profits earned outside the U.S.A. nothing but > a 2 percent tax imposed by the Irish government. > > Far from being condemned, Apple's CPAs ought to be inducted into the > Accountants Hall of Fame. > > It is no more immoral for Apple to move its headquarters for foreign sales > to Ireland than for Big Apple residents to move to Florida to escape the 12 > percent combined state and city income tax. > > Among the reasons the Sun Belt is booming at the expense of the Rust Belt > is not just the weather. Southern states strive to keep income and estate > taxes low or nonexistent. They want companies and families to relocate and > live there, and to spend their money there. > > The problem here is not with Apple, it is with Sen. Levin & Co. > > In a press release, "Avoiding Their Fair Share of Taxes," the AFL-CIO > hails Levin and bewails the fact that though the U.S. corporate tax rate is > 35 percent, highest in the world, corporate income tax revenue has fallen > to well below 10 percent of federal tax revenue. > > "Cash tax payments by non-financial companies in the S&P 500 Index fell > ... to $222 billion in 2010," moaned the AFL-CIO. > > "Another corporate tax avoidance strategy is to move overseas to a > corporate tax haven like Bermuda. By reincorporating offshore, companies > avoid paying federal income taxes on profits earned outside the United > States." > > Yes, they do. But instead of bewailing this, perhaps we should start > thinking and acting as our forebears did. In the same Wall Street Journal > that reported on Cook's defense of Apple, former Sen. Phil Gramm described > that earlier America: > > "Over the late 19th century, real GDP and employment doubled, annual > average real earnings rose by over 60 percent and wholesale prices fell by > 75 percent, thanks to marked improvement in productivity." > > Astonishing. And what is the difference between that age and ours? A 35 > percent income tax rate on individuals and corporations that did not exist > then, and would have been regarded by Americans of the Gilded Age as the > satanic work of Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx. > > From the Civil War to World War I, our economy grew from one-half the size > of Great Britain's to twice Britain's. American companies were capturing > markets abroad. Today's U.S. companies are looking for ways to relocate > abroad. > > Herewith, a modest proposal to turn this around. > > Since the U.S. corporate income tax now produces less than 10 percent of > federal revenue and less than 2 percent of gross domestic product, abolish > it. Get rid of it. > > Think of it. A continent-wide nation that doesn't tax business. > > Assume this would cost the Treasury $250 billion in lost revenue. > > How to make it up? Put a 10 percent tariff on imports entering the United > States, which last year added up to $2.7 trillion. > > This tax reform would thus be revenue neutral. > > And what would a corporate income tax rate of zero, with a 10 percent > tariff on goods entering the U.S.A. from abroad, accomplish? > > First, every U.S. corporation that had moved abroad in search of lower > taxes in recent years would start thinking about coming home and bringing > its production and its jobs back to America. > > Second, that $2 trillion in income U.S. companies have stashed abroad > would come roaring back into U.S. institutions. > > Third, foreign companies would begin to relocate and produce here in > America, both to get around the tariff and pay no taxes. > > Fourth, U.S. producers would see sales soar inside the $17 trillion U.S. > market, at the expense of foreigners who would pay a 10-percent admission > fee to get into this market, a fraction of what they used to pay in the > 19th century. > > While this would cause a surge in unemployment among IRS agents and > accountants, hundreds of millions of man hours could be redirected away > from filling out tax forms and into productive work. > > "Since 1980, the U.S. has run trade deficits in every year totaling about > $9 trillion," writes columnist Robert Samuelson. > > That is 9 thousand billion dollars in trade deficits! > > It is what unmade America as a self-reliant republic and made China a > manufacturing marvel. And those trade deficits are how America became a > dependent nation in hock to the world. > > From 1865 to 1914, America had 10 Republican presidents. All believed in > financing government by taxing imports, not the incomes of U.S. citizens or > the U.S. companies that employed them. > > And this was how the miracle Sen. Gramm details came about. > > http://buchanan.org/blog/abolish-the-corporate-income-tax-5601 > > -- > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "PoliticalForum" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- brine http://brineb.blogspot.com/ -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
