The vice president is rolling out her first revenue-raising policy proposal as the Democratic presidential nominee and drawing a contrast with GOP opponent Donald Trump.

Vice President Kamala Harris is calling for raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, her first major proposal to raise revenues and finance expensive plans she wants to pursue as president.

Harris campaign spokesman James Singer told NBC News that she would push for a 28% corporate tax rate, calling it “a fiscally responsible way to put money back in the pockets of working people and ensure billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share.”

If enacted, the policy would raise hundreds of billions of dollars, as the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected that 1 percentage point increases in the corporate rate corresponds to about $100 billion over a decade. It would also roll back a big part of former President Donald Trump’s signature legislation in 2017 as president, which slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.

Trump, meanwhile, recently said he would cut taxes even further if elected president, including on businesses.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    17029 days ago

    Maybe roll it back up to 35 percent instead of letting republicans gain ground every fucking election and doing half assed measures that still result in net loss for the people? I mean it’s a step in the right direction but Jesus fucking Christ man.

    • @Gigasser
      link
      9329 days ago

      Shit why not make it 50%, it was that way in 1950.

      • @Lowpast
        link
        5
        edit-2
        28 days ago

        Back when there were numerous loopholes, deductions, and methods of evasion and nearly none paid that rate? And when they later lowered effective rates, closed loopholes, and ended up collecting more?

        Yeah, let’s do that. Let’s incentive finding ways to avoid paying taxes.

        This is exactly how you give incentives to higher CEO pay. Record profits? Give all of it to the CEO and you’ll pay none of it to the government. You didn’t mention a higher personal tax rate, so end of the day the CEO wins.

        Own an S-Corp? Pass through all profits to yourself and pay 0%.

        • @IamAnonymous
          link
          428 days ago

          Corporations still find loopholes and pay nearly no taxes… If corporations and Billionaires paid their taxes just like common folks, the country would make a lot more in taxes.

          • @Lowpast
            link
            -7
            edit-2
            28 days ago

            The top 1 percent of earners alone pay over one-third of income taxes.

            Accounting for all forms of taxation, they pay roughly 25%.

            Corporations “pay nearly no taxes” is just categorically false. Language matters - some companies avoid paying federal income tax. In these cases, chances are it had a combination of both zero or negative book income and either net operating losses, significant foreign profits, sizable capital investments, or all of the above.

            Of course, it’s also important to remember that federal income taxes aren’t the only taxes corporations pay. Businesses are also liable for state income taxes, payroll taxes, property taxes, and excise taxes, of which are almost entirely unavoidable.

            Empirical studies show that workers (i.e., labor) bear more than 50 percent of the burden of the corporate income tax. How is it possible that workers bear the brunt of a tax they don’t even pay? The key lies in the difference between “legal” tax incidence—who is legally obligated to pay a tax—and what economists call “economic” tax incidence—who indirectly pays for a tax, often in the form of lower wages.

            The higher business taxes are, the higher the cost of investing is and the less likely businsess owners are to invest in things like equipment, buildings, and trainings that will make their staff more productive. And the less productive workers are, the less their employers can afford to pay them in the long run.

            Instead, maybe we look at limiting a companies ability to offshore profits, limit incentives for stock buyback, and adjust how deductions for stock options work.

            Crazy idea, how about we make it easier to pay taxes so companies don’t feel the need to cheat. What if we make it so it’s cheaper to pay federal taxes than it is to avoid them.

            • @Cryophilia
              link
              528 days ago

              What if we make it so it’s cheaper to pay federal taxes than it is to avoid them

              I’m with you if we also include penalties for avoiding taxes. Carrot and stick.

              The top 1 percent of earners alone pay over one-third of income taxes.

              The top 1% have approximately 1/3 to 1/4 of the total wealth of the country. So this tax rate sounds fair. Probably should pay a little more to account for the progressive nature of taxes.

              Personally, I’d like to see more inheritance taxes. We shouldn’t have a class of nobility.

              Also lift the cap on social security taxes.

              • @seth
                link
                228 days ago

                If they own 30% of the wealth they should be paying far more than 30% of taxes. After taxes and the cost of living comfortably, they are steadily increasing the wealth disparity and benefiting from a society where they are exploiting the lower classes, especially considering that a sizable number of people in the full-time working lower classes are not ever able to reach a level of basic comfort and security, as a direct result of them hoarding not just wealth but power, and not paying “their fair share” of either.

                • @Cryophilia
                  link
                  228 days ago

                  That’s a good point. Perhaps I should say “much more” instead of “a little bit more”

    • @big_slap
      link
      2429 days ago

      Maybe roll it back up to 35 percent

      let’s go for 40% to account for inflation. and that’s being generous lol

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        228 days ago

        That’s… Not how inflation works, lol. At that rate, they’ll eventually be taxed more than 100%.

        • @big_slap
          link
          127 days ago

          hmm, true lol. I just want gigantic companies to pay their fair share, and 28% is just too low for my taste when we were getting way more from big businesses back during the 50s and 60s.

          I understand lowering the rate helps businesses grow, but come on, there are way more shittier companies taking advantage of the lower tax rate than it’s helping.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      2329 days ago

      I like her, but man is it annoying to see the ratchet-effect happening once you are aware of it.

    • ???
      link
      12
      edit-2
      28 days ago

      As someone who lives in Europe, I already pay this much on income taxes. Is this considered high?

      Edit: actually like 30-33%

      • [email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        2028 days ago

        30-35% is about what Americans pay too in personal income taxes, but this is talking about taxes paid by businesses, which are unsustainably low in the states right now.

      • @baldingpudenda
        link
        1528 days ago

        I blame Reagan. It’s been historically really low ever since and every time it’s tried to be raised Republicans scream that they’re are coming for your money. Even if they are only trying to raise it for ppl making over 2 million or whatever.

    • @RunningInRVA
      link
      929 days ago

      She advocated for that in 2020 and lost, so she rolled it back to be more moderate. You can’t sell shit that people won’t buy.

      • @kautau
        link
        1629 days ago

        You can’t sell shit pass legislation against corporations that people won’t buy are legally allowed to bribe our representatives