Some here at AF hate the corporate world.
Let's just take a look at the Irish. Maybe we can learn something!

The Irish lowered their corporate tax to 12.5% now look at their economy.

http://www.idaireland.com/home/index.aspx?id=659

Some here would have us punish those who provide jobs.
Enough of this class warfare please!!

July 6, 2005
Ireland's Low Corporate Tax Rate Leads to Prosperity

by Alicia Hansen

Ireland’s economy has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past two decades. A recent New York Times op-ed by Thomas L. Friedman attributes Ireland’s economic growth in part to the country’s low corporate tax rate.

Ireland is currently the second richest country in the European Union, with a per capita GDP higher than that of Germany, France and Britain. But in the mid-1980s, the economy was faltering, college graduates were emigrating, and the outlook was bleak:

"We went on a borrowing, spending and taxing spree, and that nearly drove us under," said Deputy Prime Minister Mary Harney. "It was because we nearly went under that we got the courage to change."

This change included a corporate tax rate cut to 12.5 percent, far below the rest of Europe, which attracted foreign investment. Nine of ten of the world's top pharmaceutical companies and seven of the top ten software designers currently have operations in Ireland.

In 2001 the Tax Foundation hosted a delegation of congressional tax staff on a European tax conference that included a meeting with officials from Ireland’s Industrial Development Agency, who explained that the corporate tax rate cut had stimulated economic growth and new foreign investment. Read Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge’s description of the trip.

While some of Friedman’s suggestions are debatable (for example, that free college education is conducive to economic growth), he accurately describes two important aspects of the Irish transformation:

[M]ake your corporate taxes low, simple and transparent; open your economy to competition … and you, too, can become one of the richest countries in Europe.

I posted an article a while ago that attributed their economic expansion to their free college educations which did more to attract employers who were looking for an educated work force.

Michigan's corporate tax rate is one of the lowest in the nation at only 1.9% and yet our economy is in the shitter. Merely lowering corporate taxes only lowers revenues unless you off set it with increased taxes elsewhere or cuts in spending.

I found this quote interesting, since it is at the heart of our current economic problems.
"We went on a borrowing, spending and taxing spree, and that nearly drove us under"

"Tax and Spend" is how government is supposed to work, but what we have been doing for the last 8 years is "Borrow and spend".

Well Michigan may have other problems. But lowering/eliminating corporate taxes is a great start. Our corporate tax laws are actually anti-friendly to banking. When businesses file taxes, we/they try to show the least amount of profit so we can pay the least amount of taxes. But then when a business goes to the bank for a line of credit/loan, etc. to expand the business, the bank says "well you profit is quite low", and you don't get the loan. So businesses have this strange balancing act to do.

When you lower corporate taxes, other tax revenue do indeed go up in that area. More people come to work, they are taxed, more businesses pop up to support those people, then they are taxes, more people buy goods and services in that area, on and on and on....

(regarding michigan - i don't know, but I would not use one state as an example for NOT lowering corporate taxes). And please, don't think of "corporations/businesses" as a military-industrial type of evil polluting entity. Most businesses in the US are small one or two person companies.

I guess in this issue I am a republican, but in all other issues I am not.

Well Michigan may have other problems. But lowering/eliminating corporate taxes is a great start.

It isn't something they just implimented, it has been that way for a while now.
Having low corporate taxes have done nothing to help our economy.



When you lower corporate taxes, other tax revenue do indeed go up in that area. More people come to work, they are taxed, more businesses pop up to support those people, then they are taxes, more people buy goods and services in that area, on and on and on....

I do not buy that theory.
The tax rate has nothing to do with hiring. Companies do not hire people just because they saved some money on taxes. They hire people based upon business needs, which are fueled by consumer demand.


And please, don't think of "corporations/businesses" as a military-industrial type of evil polluting entity. Most businesses in the US are small one or two person companies.


As a business owner myself, I am well aware of the differences between small business and multinational corporations.

Come on Dharm,

Do you call our corporate tax rates low???

It's simple. If you lower taxes on corerations, more companies will want to move here. When more companies move here, we have more jobs.
When we have more jobs, more people are working. When more people are working, more people are paying taxes.
It's that simple.



It isn't something they just implimented, it has been that way for a while now.
Having low corporate taxes have done nothing to help our economy.




I do not buy that theory.
The tax rate has nothing to do with hiring. Companies do not hire people just because they saved some money on taxes. They hire people based upon business needs, which are fueled by consumer demand.