corporate tax cut - ThisIsCommonSense.org

It turns out the United States is a tax haven.

Haven? Heavens! I live here. I don’t feel that low-tax feeling when April 15 rolls around.

But the Cato Institute’s Dan Mitchell, an expert on all things tax-policy — a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it — says “The U.S. Is a Tax Haven … and That’s a Very Good Thing.”

He is a huge fan of international tax competition. He likes it when governments at least marginally decrease the tax burden on prospective producers and investors, so as to lure production and investment from other tax jurisdictions. In his opinion, “we need some way to restrain the greed of the political class.”

Fans of big government disagree. Tax competition hinders their master plans to control and plunder the rest of us.

Mitchell knows that we mere U.S. citizens tend to lug a big tax load. But the United States is in fact “a tax haven. Not for Americans, of course, but … we have some good rules for foreigners.” In addition to their ability to exploit the especially robust corporate privacy rules of a state like Delaware, foreign investors can avoid taxes on interest and capital gains on their stateside investments.

Now, Mitchell says, let’s apply those “same good policies to Americans.”

Hear hear! Havens I can access are even more appealing than those I can’t.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Real Change at the Ballot Box

It’s time to face the fact: We don’t have much say-so in Washington. Take the bailout plan. Please. Though much opposed by the public, politicians insisted on passing something nonetheless. So they did, over outpourings of popular opposition.

And if you think your vote for president will change something, remember: Both major party candidates supported the bailout. And both are heading campaigns run by the same old insiders.

My advice? Get involved closer to home. State and local voters will get the opportunity to make a change this November — not by electing some a politician who will betray them, but by passing or rejecting proposed laws directly.

In Washington State, for example, voters can un-jam traffic with I‑985. The initiative is a common-sense measure requiring that traffic lights be synchronized and a higher percentage of current funding be spent to ease congestion.

In South Dakota, voters can prevent the abuse of public money by passing Initiated Measure 10, which stops government funded associations from using tax dollars to further their own political agenda. The measure is being opposed by — you guessed it — government-funded associations.

North Dakotans get a chance to decide Measure 2, a 15 percent cut in corporate income taxes and a 50 percent cut in the personal income tax.

There are, of course, plenty of measures on the ballot with which I don’t agree. But even then, better the people deciding than career politicians.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.