Thread: Trump seeks 15 percent corporate tax rate, even if it swells the national debt

Country	Corporate income tax rate (2016)	Combined corporate tax rate (2016)
Australia	30.00%	30.00%
Austria	25.00%	25.00%
Belgium	33.00%	33.99%
Canada	15.00%	26.80%
Chile	24.00%	24.00%
Czech Republic	19.00%	19.00%
Denmark	22.00%	22.00%
Estonia	20.00%	20.00%
Finland	20.00%	20.00%
France	34.43%	34.43%
Germany	15.83%	30.18%
Greece	29.00%	29.00%
Hungary	19.00%	19.00%
Iceland	20.00%	20.00%
Ireland	12.50%	12.50%
Israel	25.00%	25.00%
Italy	27.50%	31.29%
Japan	23.40%	29.97%
South Korea	22.00%	24.20%
Luxembourg	22.47%	29.22%
Mexico	30.00%	30.00%
Netherlands	25.00%	25.00%
New Zealand	28.00%	28.00%
Norway	25.00%	25.00%
Poland	19.00%	19.00%
Portugal	21.00%	22.50%
Slovakia	22.00%	22.00%
Slovenia	17.00%	17.00%
Spain	25.00%	25.00%
Sweden	22.00%	22.00%
Switzerland	8.50%	21.15%
Turkey	20.00%	20.00%
United Kingdom	20.00%	20.00%
United States	35.00%	38.92%

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_tax

A 15% corporate tax rate could be very expensive

by Jeanne Sahadi
April 24, 2017: 7:03 PM ET

President Trump plans to unveil his new tax plan on Wednesday.

Sources tell CNN he may propose slashing the top corporate rate from 35% to 15% -- as he proposed during the campaign.

Such a dramatic change would likely set up a clash with Republican leaders on Capitol Hill.

Here's why: Republican leaders are eager to cut corporate taxes, but for various reasons they don't want to add to the country's debt. And a 15% corporate rate could drive up deficits by a lot.

For example, the Tax Policy Center estimated in November that Trump's 15% proposal, coupled with a repeal of the corporate Alternative Minimum Tax, could reduce revenue by nearly $2.4 trillion in the first decade.

To put that in context, that's about $240 billion a year -- which is almost as much as the $304 billion the government spent last year on income security programs such as food stamps, unemployment benefits and child nutrition.

The cost could jump to nearly $4 trillion if Trump also chooses to extend the 15% rate to so-called pass-through businesses, which include everything from small businesses to big law firms and investment partnerships. The owners and shareholders of those businesses pay a top rate of 39.6% today.

The price tag could be somewhat less if Trump chose not to repeal the corporate AMT. But if he didn't, that would greatly undercut the value of the rate reduction to 15% for many corporations because they would have a higher tax bill under the AMT, said Roberton Williams of the Tax Policy Center.

The TPC was working off a plan from the Trump campaign that was thin on details. So absent those, it's hard to do a more tailored cost estimate.

But it's very fair to assume the cost of reducing the corporate tax rate will be high.

Administration officials cautioned that nothing is final. And sources told CNN that Wednesday's announcement is not likely to offer much explanation for how tax reductions would be paid for.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said, however, that Trump's tax plan would be paid for through economic growth. Experts throw cold water on that idea, since there is no evidence that tax cuts pay for themselves.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump wants to include a 15% corporate tax rate in Wednesday's announcement.

Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch said that a 15% corporate tax rate would be problematic because it would increase the deficit and run into parliamentary problems if Republicans try to pass their tax bill under a procedure that lets them avoid a filibuster.

"I'd love to do that. [But] I'm not sure we can get them down that low," Hatch said when asked about the proposed rate.

-- CNN's Jeff Zeleny, Jim Acosta and Manu Raju contributed to this report.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/24/news...rate-tax-rate/

To put that in context, that's about $240 billion a year -- which is almost as much as the $304 billion the government spent last year on income security programs such as food stamps, unemployment benefits and child nutrition.

The cost could jump to nearly $4 trillion if Trump also chooses to extend the 15% rate to so-called pass-through businesses, which include everything from small businesses to big law firms and investment partnerships. The owners and shareholders of those businesses pay a top rate of 39.6% today.

Cutting the corporate and business tax rate to 15% will create trillions of dollars in new investment in the United States and millions of new good jobs in our country. By doing so, not only will the annual cost of "income security programs such as food stamps, unemployment benefits and child nutrition" go down accordingly, so will the cost of Medicaid, health insurance and poverty-related crime.

Obviously, I believe the FairTax that eliminates all corporate-based income tax including payroll taxes is the far better solution, but for now, dropping this corporate and business tax rate to 15% is the very best course. I don't even care if they cut taxes on personal income, leave those alone for now, make it simple, take care of the investors, employers and businesses who are responsible for job creation and let our country fly with the wings of good jobs and soar again.