Borosage: Corporate Tax Reform: Lower Rates Now; Loopholes Return Later

Washington, DC – Robert L. Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future, commented on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s announcement of a framework for reforming the corporate tax code. Borosage argues that the corporate lobby machine in Washington would eventually prevent the closing of loopholes and the lowering of the top tax rates.

Statement from Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future:

“The president’s proposed corporate tax reform lowers the corporate tax rate in exchange for closing `dozens of tax loopholes and subsidies.’ The president should be commended for proposing a minimum rate on foreign earnings, effectively squelching the corporate push to repatriate profits at laughable rates. And the proposal wisely continues a break for domestic manufacturing, a small step towards encouraging the creation of good jobs back in the United States.

“But the proposal is promoted as revenue neutral at a time when corporations pay an historically low share of the tax burden. And the entire proposition of lowering rates in exchange for closing loopholes is, as we learned with the Reagan tax reforms, something of a put-on. The loopholes are closed, but the corporate lobbies stay in place. In time, the rates have come down but the loopholes have returned. Then, there is another push to `simplify’ the tax code, lower the top rates, and close loopholes. We’ve seen this trick before; there is no reason to fall for it again.”