Tax Quarry

Laura D’Andrea Tyson, a professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote an article that was published on the NY Times online newspaper on March 9, 2012, entitled “The Merits of a Corporate Tax Overhaul”. 

She is open about her potential for bias - she served as chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton, and was a member of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board where the president recommended reforming the corporate tax code to limit loopholes, deductions, credits and other “tax expenditures. 

However, she presents the policy and rationale behind the Obama Administration’s proposals from the perspective of someone who is informed.  This makes her piece a very valuable read.  

Laura reminds us that “in a world of mobile capital, corporate tax rates matter.”  For this reason, she argues that it is essential for the United States to reduce its corporate tax rates to remain competitive.  The proposal includes a reduction in the corporate tax rate to 28 percent, which Laura identifies as being within the vicinity of the weighted average for statutory rates of the other O.E.C.D. countries, as well as broadening the tax base from which the United States can impose tax and reducing the tax preferences for pass-through businesses. 

Click here to read Laura’s entire article