Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Defining Rich IV: Corporate vs Personal Tax collection patterns 1934 to present

When I left this series in September, I had introduced the idea of looking at past tax tables as a means of understanding how We the People define rich. One specific note from history was a surcharge on top of themarginal tax rates to pay for the Great One (WWII). Obviously, that aspect of our […]

The right’s smoke and mirrors scam about Social Security–it ain’t broke (unless China is too)

by Linda Beale The right’s smoke and mirrors scam about Social Security–it ain’t broke (unless China is too) We’ve noted in these postings the growing inequality between rich and the rest of us in America, and that is the appropriate backdrop against which to investigate further the right’s smoke-and-mirrors scams about tax policy and earned […]

the right’s smoke & mirrors scams about corporate tax "reform"

by Linda Beale the right’s smoke & mirrors scams about corporate tax “reform” One could get a pretty gloomy picture of the state of Social Security, and the need to “reduce entitlements” while at the same time hearing about the (faked) urgency of cutting corporate taxes in order to give our US multinationals an edge […]

Joined the GE Capital Board in 1997

The cause of that “small tax bill”: Immelt said a small tax bill for 2010 was due to more than $30 billion in losses related to GE’s financial services business during the financial crisis. In 2009, GE Capital’s losses were so large that it company overall lost money on its U.S. operations. GE’s federal taxes, […]

Repatriation Tax Holiday–WIN America is pushing hard…

by Linda Beale Repatriation Tax Holiday–WIN America is pushing hard… I get a press release a day from WIN America, the coalition of almost two dozen multinationals and about two dozen business organizations (like the Chamber of Commerce) that is pushing for another big “repatriation holiday” tax cut for the multinationals. Now they’re touting the […]

Repatriation Holiday Lobbying–Money Speaks…

by Linda Beale Repatriation Holiday Lobbying–Money Speaks… We’ve discussed repatriation before–the tax break being pushed by multinationals who want to bring some of their offshore profits home without paying taxes, as they did in the 2004 “one time only” repatriation break. The reason they have so much money offshore is that they use gimmicks–such as […]

This is the reality of a real small business

By Daniel Becker This is a bit of an interlude in my writing regarding the income tax of yore. Though, this does involve taxation. This is also a continuation in my postings regarding real world small business experiences. Yes, you are going to get to read about a real situation that involves a real small […]

Tax Havens in Reverse

Reuters provides a synopsis of a report by the OECD on tax-avoidance strategies by multinational corporations: 30/08/2011 – Due to the recent financial and economic crisis, global corporate losses have increased significantly. Numbers at stake are vast, with loss carry-forwards as high as 25% of GDP in some countries. Though most of these claims are […]

Corporate Taxes from the AEI perspective–the AEI report gets an F

by Linda Beale Corporate Taxes from the AEI perspective–the AEI report gets an Fcrossposted with Ataxingmatter [edited to correct typos and add link to CTJ and Leonhardt articles 2/19pm] Kevin Hassett, an economic grunt at the American Enterprise Institute and frequent contributor to the Wall Street Journal op-ed pages, prepared a report for the institute […]

Price elasticity, taxes and wages: Or, why I don’t take wingnut economics seriously

by Bruce Webb It is I think a truism that in any economic enterprise all costs ultimately have to come out of price, that in the end ‘the customer pays’. But what is not true is that price is infinitely elastic, at some point price in and of itself will restrain demand, and while you […]