Many Republicans claim that our corporate tax is the highest in the world. This is not true. Japan’s tax rate is higher, and the rest of the Westernized economies have taxes that are within a percentage point or two. The difference is that every other comparable economy has mandated benefit packages that far exceed what is offered here in the U.S.A.

Many of those packages include retirement at 55, pension plans, health care coverage, paid vacations and sick leave, disability and life insurance, and a social safety net that is far superior to anything our country offers. That’s not to mention personal income tax rates that are double or triple ours.

I am all for the European corporate model but that’s not what the Republicans are selling … and I’m not buying. They say we need to lower corporate tax rates to compete with the rest of the world but if you add up the mandated benefits, these corporations pay three times the tax rate that U.S. corporations pay.

Jon Luckenbaugh

Vancouver

Print this article