Obama Talks Corporate Tax Cuts and Loopholes

Posted on Feb 22, 2012

AP / Saul Loeb

So the official story here is that President Obama says he wants to cut the country’s corporate tax rate by seven percentage points, dropping it from 35 percent to 28 percent, which gives him a nice tax-related headline on a day when similar stories are cropping up about the competition.

However, Obama and his crack team of economists are also proposing that certain tax loopholes be closed, which makes for a different overall effect. And also, there’s not much chance that his plan will come to legislative fruition anyway. Thus, the actual story, it would appear, is that the president talked about tax cuts on Wednesday. The end.  —KA

BBC:

Announcing the plan, the US treasury secretary called the tax code loopholes “fundamentally unfair”.

Republicans also propose lowering rates, but Mr Obama’s plan is thought to have few chances of becoming law.

Correspondents say the president is using the plan to spark a debate on tax reform in an election year.

The plan does not include any overhaul of the individual tax code.

In a statement, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called the current system inefficient and bad for job creation.

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