“It’s all about jobs for Americans. You have a problem with that?”

GOP tax bill is good for middle-class Americans

By F.H. Buckley

USA Today

December 10, 2017

The bill is good news for most middle-class Americans. More important, it’s a jobs bill, because it will give firms an incentive to invest in the United States. At present, America’s federal corporate tax rate of 35% is one of the highest in the world, and if you add in state taxes it’s 39.1 % on average, the highest rate in the Group of 20 major and emerging economic powers, and 10% above its average rate.

There’s a worldwide competition for investment dollars, and all other things being equal they’re going to flow to low-tax countries.

What’s worse, the high U.S. rate has given American multinational firms an incentive to leave foreign earnings offshore.

The bill also offers a tax repatriation holiday, under which American firms with money parked abroad could bring it back and pay a tax rate of just 10%.

CNBC reports that American firms have left $2.6 trillion in foreign subsidiaries. That amounts to nearly 14% of U.S. GDP. If firms had an incentive to re­invest the money here, think what this would mean for American jobs.

It’s all about jobs for Americans. You have a problem with that?

Read the full op-ed here.