Tax & Finance

Washington Beyond the Headlines: Tax, Tax, Healthcare and…Tax


 
 
By Andy Blom, TES Washington Editor
 
Joe Biden is bumbling through Europe, getting greeted (for better or worse) as “not Trump”. Benjamin Netanyahu gave his exit speech as Prime Minister of Israel and sounded more like Arnold Swarzenegger than Golda Meir (“I will be baaacckk!”). Aren’t political leaders fun? While our leaders get wacky we have hope…free market thinkers and doers are working tirelessly on your behalf. Here’s this week’s (non-fake) news…
 
A Higher Corporate Tax Means an Electric Shock for You. President Biden wants to raise the corporate tax rate to 28% (higher than communist China’s). Yeah! Soak the corporations! Except when the corporate tax rate goes up, so do your utility bills. It’s simple, when corporations have to pay more money, they have to collect more money. Including the utility companies. How does your state rank? Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) has the story state by state right here.
 
The Estate Tax Could be the Death of Your Job. President Biden (him again!) wants to raise the Estate Tax. So what? So some rich people have to pay more taxes when they die. Why does that affect me? Well, because 87% of businesses in the U.S. are family-owned businesses who pay the Estate Tax. If that goes up, people get laid off.  In the long run up to 100,000 job equivalents lost per year. And there’s more bad news including a big hit on the GDP.  The Policy and Taxation Group has the whole story here and there are lots of devils in the details. 
 
Is the Whole World Conspiring Against You? Well, Yeah. We noted earlier that when corporate taxes go up, they pass the cost on to you (your utility bill is just one example). Well, led by Treasury Secretary Yellen and President Biden there is now a serious effort (endorsed this week by the G7) to establish a Global Minimum Tax. No more nasty lowering taxes competitively, this is the gang of governments conspiring to enrich themselves and prevent competition. Make you mad? Want to do something about it? Then learn more and have your organization sign the coalition letter here  by June 18th.
 
Are You Investing for Financial Return, or Social Justice? Better Read This…If you want your investments to change the world (often at lower returns) then you are involved in “Stakeholder Capitalism” a movement that uses ESG (environmental, social and governance) investment criteria that puts primacy on progressive agenda items over investor returns. Don’t want to politicize your investments? It’s getting harder and harder as the S&P 500 is awash with ESG fever. But there is hope, and help. Daniel Grant explains the whole mess in The Wall Street Journal here,  and shows you a path to alternatives. 
 
Spending Bills, Vaccine Patent Waivers, Healthcare Price Controls…Never Mind What You Think, Here’s What America Thinks. Okay know-it-alls, especially you people in Washington, slow down a little and listen to the American people. That’s what the Center for Individual Freedom did with a major national survey and the results showed once again that the collective people have a good head on their shoulders. Read the results here  and see if you don’t agree with their calls for rational bipartisanship and reasonable answers.
 
OK, So That’s What’s Happening in America, But What About the Rest Of The World? Don’t worry, IDU has you covered. IDU, the International Democrat Union calls itself the ‘Global Alliance of the Centre Right’ and you can catch up on elections and other stuff all over the world on their website here.  We’ll try to work on their spelling of centre later.
 
And Finally…It’s Showtime! For giggles and to be truly informed, take 3 minutes and watch Ryan Ellis of the Center for a Free Economy and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform discuss the problems with a choice of a 95% tax on prescription drugs or government healthcare price controls. Either way (1) consumers will pay and (2) you’ll see the fastest 3 minutes in tax talk. Tune in here
 


Andresen Blom is a Washington based policy and political analyst and author who has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Hill, and Politico.