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Business groups brace for Dem push to hike corporate taxes
[The Hill] The business community is bracing for Democratic proposals to raise the corporate tax rate to pay for infrastructure spending and other priorities.Infrastructure is seen as one of the rare areas where Democrats and President Trump might be able to come to a deal, since both sides have called for improvements to the nation’s roads, railways and bridges. The problem is how to pay for the new spending. Many in Washington expect Democrats to push for a hike in the corporate tax rate, which was slashed under the tax law championed by Trump. "I have no doubt that it will be considered," said Marcia Hale, president of the infrastructure advocacy group Building America’s Future. That’s a non-starter for business groups, and likely will be for Trump and most congressional Republicans as well. "Talk of repealing any part of the tax reform bill is a non-starter," Ed Mortimer, U.S. Chamber vice president of transportation and infrastructure, said in a statement to The Hill. The GOP tax law cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent as part of an effort to make the U.S. more in line with other countries. Many Democrats also thought the corporate tax rate was too high at 35 percent, but view the GOP cut as too large. Congressional Democrats also voted unanimously against the tax law, arguing that it disproportionately benefited businesses and wealthy individuals. Democrats have already released some proposals to roll back the corporate tax cut and other aspects of the GOP tax law in order to pay for infrastructure. Last year, top Senate Democrats proposed raising the corporate rate to 25 percent, and rolling back parts of the tax law that benefit the wealthy, to fund $1 trillion in infrastructure investments. The Democrats said that the corporate-tax increase would raise $359 billion over 10 years. Outgoing Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.), who is running for president, has floated increasing the corporate tax rate to 23 percent to raise about $200 billion for infrastructure. "This small change to the new tax law would be more than worth it, because smart infrastructure investment helps businesses compete and grow," Delaney said in a letter to Trump earlier this year. Henry Connelly, a spokesman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the favorite to become Speaker next year, said "Democrats are looking at a variety of options to pay for bold infrastructure investments in the next Congress." Posted by: Besoeker 2018-11-26 |
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