A little from column D (healthcare not tied to employment, sensible immigration policies), a little from column R (simplifying taxes, relaxing certain SEC regulations, corporate tax amnesty), and a little from column 'completely neglected' (patent reform, internet freedom).
What would be a sensible, simplified tax code even look like? The GOP plan looks disastrous. I'd like us to take a look around the world and see which types of tax codes seem to foster the best business atmosphere.
I recall reading somewhere (no time to find a source, unfortunately - waiting for a train) that the biggest predictor of economic success is not tax policy, but effective application of law instead of arbitrary application of law (lookin' at you here, SEC).
The "application of law > tax policy" seems like a true observation but may not be causal (just look at the massive amounts of corruption in India... and, come to think of it, pretty much every developing country)
That said, I suspect that it is causal on the macro scale. Corruption is rampant in those countries and it turns entrepreneurs off because it's too hard to get anything done without being buddy-buddy with the fat cats. America isn't anywhere near that bad -- it's kind of the opposite, where entrepreneurs fear regulation, more than they fear corruption. From what I've seen, anyway.
You mean that big, international corporations would bring more cash back into the US, which they could potentially spend more to acquire smaller companies? Seems like a long shot.
It doesn't. It's a fantasy held by those with large amounts of stock in companies with lots of spare cash lying around in their foreign subsidiaries.
The last corporate tax amnesty on repatriated earnings did absolutely nothing to benefit the economy; it actually resulted in a net loss to the U.S. economy b/c the corporations repatrited the money without paying taxes on the repatriated...and did not pay the income out as (taxable) dividends. Many corporations still have this cash lying around.
> it actually resulted in a net loss to the U.S. economy b/c the corporations repatrited the money without paying taxes on the repatriated and did not pay the income out as (taxable) dividends. Many corporations still have this cash lying around.
In other words, you think that money that isn't paid in taxes has no benefit to the economy. You're wrong.
Even the "cash" still lying around isn't doing nothing, it's being loaned out. Money that was spent (even on salaries) contributed to the economy.
Sorry for the late reply, but my point was that this money wasn't put back into the U.S. economy in any form, including loans to other companies. They simply moved this money to their U.S. bank acounts, where it remains to this day.
