Top Pro & Con Arguments

Con

Raising the corporate income tax rate would force companies to take headquarters and earnings overseas.

In 2017, the United States had the third highest combined federal and local average corporate tax rates in the world at about 39%, behind only the United Arab Emirates and Puerto Rico. The high tax rate forced American companies to relocate their employees overseas. [47]

Johnson Controls, a company with a market value of $23 billion, moved its headquarters from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Ireland in 2016. In a memo to employees, a spokesperson explained the move would save the company about $150 million dollars in US taxes annually, and that setting up headquarters abroad “retains maximum flexibility for our balance sheet and ability to invest in growth opportunities everywhere around the world.” [47] [48]

High corporate income tax rates encourage US companies to store their foreign earnings abroad instead of investing it into expansion and employment in the United States. The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that untaxed foreign earnings of American companies totaled approximately $2.6 trillion in 2015. [7] [49]

A J.P. Morgan study found that 60% of the cash held by 602 US multi-national companies was sitting in foreign accounts. If an income tax cut were offered to companies that returned this cash to the US, an estimated $663 billion could be invested into business expansion and job growth in the United States. [7] [49]

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