Tax Simplification

The Obama administration is now proposing to simply the corporate tax code. As the NYT notes: President Obama will ask Congress to scrub the corporate tax code of dozens of loopholes and subsidies to reduce the top rate to 28 percent, down from 35 percent, while giving preferences to manufacturers that would set their maximum [...]

Read Full Post »

Business Associations: Whom Do They Really Represent?

Two stories in the news, one local and one national, help us answer that question. First, a pair of stories from the New Hampshire Union-Leader: Representatives of the state’s major hospitals fought a proposal that could pave the way for a for-profit cancer facility to come to the state at a hearing Tuesday that was [...]

Read Full Post »

Investing Wisely?

A report released by the Public Campaign examines 30 top corporations. Some key findings: Despite making combined profits totally $164 billion in that three-year period, the 30 companies combined received tax rebates totaling nearly $11 billion. Altogether, these companies spent nearly half a billion dollars ($476 million) over three years to lobby Congress—that’s about $400,000 [...]

Read Full Post »

NYS Supreme Court Judicially Amends the State Constitution

The New York Constitution prohibits pork-barrel spending and corporate welfare: government money for private projects. Here’s what the clause says: [T]he money of the state shall not be given or loaned to or in aid of any private corporation or association, or private undertaking. Couldn’t be clearer, right? Wrong. The state supreme court today ruled [...]

Read Full Post »