"Second highest corporate tax rate in the world"

[annabanana]

"second only to Japan, where the economy is stagnating".. This from some McSame campaign spokesthing to Nora ODonnell on msnbc just now . Of course the large-mouthed one didn't ask her to back up this statement, or reference it... and couldn't be expected to know anything about anything, so the statement just went out there...

This sounds like a load of horseshit to me..so I google..and sure enough from smartmoney.com
http://www.smartmoney.com/invisiblehand/index.cfm?story=20080125-corporate-tax-rate

It turns out that "broad exemptions and industry-specific perks have turned our tax code into Swiss cheese feeding a regiment of millionaire tax lawyers".

WE are going to hear a lot of this kind of garbage between now &November.

[Hydra]

1. Taxes are bad for business

But good for workers?

Why do people buy this BS?

[originalpckelly]

2. There shouldn't be a corporate tax.

Why hurt the employees of a company, when it's really the stockholders who should be paying?

The corporate tax doesn't come out of some rich guys dividend, it comes out of the poor guys paycheck.

[zonmoy]

3. If you dont want it to come out of the poor guys paycheck.

you make the corporate tax based upon the difference between the highest paid executives and the lowest paid workers including foreign workers. that would encourage the executives to either lower their pay and perks or raise their employees pay to get rid of the tax.

[klyon]

9. tax business not workers

..

[MannyGoldstein]

7. How Do You Figure? n/t

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Straight from the AEI. Of course, they're not telling you that 60% of all US companies pay NO taxes.

http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.23656/pub_detail.asp

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/04/b45142.html

[Zodiak]

11. Yup, high rate

...and loopholes you could drive a tanker through. The bigger you are, the bigger the holes.

[Lifetimedem]

5. Thank you for the sources..

I know Europe has a heavy tax burden ...so that claim never "smelled " right

[MannyGoldstein]

6. Back In The 50s And 60s, Corporate Taxes Were Much Higher

But, somehow, GDP grew faster than today, and median wages went up quickly rather than stagnating as they have today.

Imagine that. Must have been magic.

[underpants]

8. Oh gee I'm sorry my friend

[seasat]

10. There's a big difference between "effective" and "marginal" rates

Effective is simply what they paid divided by what they earn. Marginal means what the rate is on the adjusted income (income after deductions credits ect). The difference can be especially huge with all the different credits and deductions they've built into the corporate tax system over they years. When folks like the AEI spin they are talking about marginal rates not what is actually paid.