'If you’re a business that wants to outsource jobs, you shouldn’t get a tax deduction for doing it.'

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from President Obama's SOTU address: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/01/24/remarks-president-state-union-address


We should start with our tax code. Right now, companies get tax breaks for moving jobs and profits overseas. Meanwhile, companies that choose to stay in America get hit with one of the highest tax rates in the world. It makes no sense, and everyone knows it. So let’s change it.

First, if you’re a business that wants to outsource jobs, you shouldn’t get a tax deduction for doing it. That money should be used to cover moving expenses for companies like Master Lock that decide to bring jobs home.

Second, no American company should be able to avoid paying its fair share of taxes by moving jobs and profits overseas. From now on, every multinational company should have to pay a basic minimum tax. And every penny should go towards lowering taxes for companies that choose to stay here and hire here in America.

Third, if you’re an American manufacturer, you should get a bigger tax cut. If you’re a high-tech manufacturer, we should double the tax deduction you get for making your products here. And if you want to relocate in a community that was hit hard when a factory left town, you should get help financing a new plant, equipment, or training for new workers.

So my message is simple. It is time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas, and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in America. Send me these tax reforms, and I will sign them right away.


read entire address: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/01/24/remarks-president-state-union-address


(AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)

[Enrique]

1. and yet he claims to have already done this

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jan/05/barack-obama/barack-obama-reelection-video-says-he-closed-corpo/

(...)

For example, candidate Obama declares, "I’ll be a president who ends the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas." At that point, an on-screen visual reads: "Closed corporate tax loopholes that were sending profits overseas."

(...)

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2. I think the interpretation is slippery, not the claim

The claim is true; although it was interpreted as if he said he'd eliminated ALL loopholes.

from Politifact:

. . . candidate Obama declares, "I’ll be a president who ends the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas."

That's his aspiration. Good for him. He expanded on that in his SOTU.

At that point, an on-screen visual reads: "Closed corporate tax loopholes that were sending profits overseas."

He did close some corporate loopholes, as the article admits. Not anything substantial, but not insignificant, either.

from politifact: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/sep/07/service-employees-international-union-committee-po/republicans-closing-corporate-tax-loopholes/

In 2010, Obama signed a bill into law that provided economic aid to states. So that the bill didn't add to the deficit, it also changed rules on foreign profits for companies.

Basically, the United States government taxes companies on foreign profits, which not all countries do. But companies don't have to pay taxes on foreign profits until they bring the profits back to this country. So companies tend to keep the money with their foreign subsidiaries as long as possible. But companies also get U.S. tax credits for taxes they pay to foreign governments. Some companies figured out how to game the system by keeping their profits overseas while still claiming a tax credit for taxes paid to foreign governments. The new rules say companies can't claim the foreign tax credit until they bring the profits back to the United States.

So, the President not only has talked about changing the loopholes which allow companies to take money out of the country without any benefit for the U.S., he's actually done something about it.

[Zalatix]

3. He'd have done more than that if the US Chamber of Commerce hadn't interfered in 2010

[pampango]

4. Good point. And the president made excellent points in the OP. Big Rec. n/t

[doc03]

5. I have been hearing that claim from various presidents

for like 40 years now. I take it as total BS until someone actually does something.

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6. ,