BUSINESS/TAXES: “Governments around the world have continued to cut their tax rates on company profits, pushing them further below that of the U.S. as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned the competition to aid businesses may be going too far.
In its annual review of changes to tax policies, the Paris-based think tank for rich countries Wednesday [9-13-17] said continuing reductions in corporate tax rates had lowered the average across its 35 members to 24.7% in 2016 from 32.2% in 2000.
The U.S. corporate tax rate of 35% is the highest among major developed countries, and companies say it distorts economic decisions and discourages investments in the U.S. Many companies don’t pay that full rate because of tax breaks created by Congress to encourage certain activities and because they are earning and booking profits in low-tax foreign countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump has set lowering that tax rate as one of his top priorities, although it isn’t clear how far Congress will go given that each percentage point reduces corporate-tax revenue by about $100 billion over a decade…
The OECD said Japan has undertaken one of the most aggressive reductions over the past decade, lowering its tax rate by around 10 percentage points. Three other countries also lowered their rates last year, while 11 are set to do so this year.”
-Paul Hannon, “Global Corporate Tax Cuts Widen Gap With U.S.,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 13, 2017 10:09am