Why compromise with Republicans on taxes is impossible, in one vote

[ProSense]

Why compromise with Republicans on taxes is impossible, in one vote

Posted by Greg Sargent

This afternoon, Senate Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee cast a vote that underscores the genuine nature of the differences between Republicans and Democrats on taxes in a fresh way. They voted unanimously against an amendment — to the Dem budget — that would seek to close loopholes that enable profitable corporations to pay nothing in taxes.

The amendment, introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders, is described this way by a Budget Committee summary:

This amendment would establish a deficit reduction reserve fund that would seek to ensure that large profitable corporations cannot use loopholes to entirely avoid income tax, and direct savings recovered from closing such loopholes to deficit reduction.

Citizens For Tax Justice has found that as of last spring, over two dozen major corporations “remained in the no-federal-income-tax category over the 2008-2011 period.”

The good news is that the amendment passed the committee with all Dems voting for it, though its future in the Senate budget legislation is anything but assured. The noteworthy point is that every Republican on the committee voted against it.

Dems on the committee are taking this vote as a sign that there is literally no proposal to bring in new revenues that most Republicans are willing to support, no matter how sensible or fair minded. Republicans have argued in the past that corporations have a responsibility to their shareholders to reduce the amount they pay in taxes as much as possible within the law. But what this vote shows is that Republicans prioritize this corporate imperative over deficit reduction, even in the cases of corporations that pay no taxes at all. This really doesn’t bode well for the chances that Republicans may agree to new revenues, does it?

- more -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/03/14/why-compromise-with-republicans-on-taxes-is-impossible-in-one-vote/

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t