OBAMA’S SEGUE FROM CONSTRUCTIVE TAX PROPOSALS TO LOW-GRADE DEMAGOGUERY

[Geee]

Human Events:

“The tax system should be simplified and work for all Americans with lower individual and corporate tax rates and fewer brackets.”

 

That’s from the Obama administration’s 2009 proposals for tax reform, straight from whitehouse.gov.

 

“Because our corporate tax system is so riddled with special interest loopholes,” the document goes on, “our system has one of the highest statutory rates among developed countries to generate about the same amount of corporate tax revenue as our developed country partners as a share of our economy.”

That is still accurate except that, now that Japan has lowered its corporate tax rate, the U.S. is not “among the highest” but is the highest among developed countries.

The first step in establishing good public policy is identifying problems with and weaknesses in current policy. On the corporate tax, President Obama and his administration started off on the right foot.

Unfortunately, they haven’t moved any further.