This morning Gail Collins opens her column with something I agree with more than anything I can recall her writing:
The election season is starting in earnest, and already one thing is crystal clear. Both the Democrats and the Republicans are hopeless.
The remainder of the column is devoted to an attempt at discerning winners and losers in the far off November elections. The late Mayor Daley said it more succinctly: “Whatever things look like now someone will win in November.”
Thanks much, nice piece.
“The news that more than 60 percent of U.S. corporations failed to pay any federal taxes from 1996 through 2000 when corporate profits were soaring and that corporate tax receipts had fallen to just 7.4 percent of overall federal tax revenue in 2003 – the lowest since 1983 and the second-lowest rate since 1934 – is an outrage. But it should come as no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to national tax policy over the past few years. The General Accounting Office (GAO) report also found that an astonishing 94 percent of corporations reported tax liability of less than 5 percent of their total income during the same time period.”
I have long advocated for doing away with the corporate income tax. It provides a small percentage of our revenue. Most corporations just avoid it. The interactions between business and government officials to avoid paying taxes leads to corruption. Businesses also spend large amounts to avoid taxes. Let businesses spend that money more productively.
Steve