Sunday, July 11, 2021

Sunday Best: Thanks for footing the bill

Have you taken a look at America's corporate tax rate lately?

The taxes you pay attention to are usually your own, but it's worth asking: Are corporations today paying their fair share?

Decades ago, Congress taxed American companies almost half of their earnings. But then the world opened up, and other countries were prepared to give them a better deal. So Congress lowered the corporate tax rate (and lowered it and lowered it) all the while raising taxes on wages — which meant middle-class Americans footed the bill.

"The result has been a nation where working-class Americans are left with underfunded public schools and hospitals as the wealthy board rocketships to outer space," Gabriel Zucman and Gus Wezerek write in an essay this week.

The recent news that 130 countries, including the United States, have agreed to set a 15 percent global minimum corporate tax was welcome, but raising that number to 25 percent is really what it would take to close the growing economic gap between America's rich and middle class, they argue. "The pact is a step in the right direction," Gus and Gabriel write. "But for working-class Americans who have fallen behind as tax cuts helped the rich get richer, 15 percent is too little, too late."

— Jennifer Brown

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