Bloomberg View: A Modest Step Toward a Grand Bargain
Obama’s plan to lower corporate taxes is welcome, but key details are missing
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President Barack Obama is taking yet another run at a grand bargain with Congress, conjuring images of the famous Peanuts gag in which Lucy invites Charlie Brown to kick the football, then pulls it away at the last second. The question is: Who’s Lucy and who’s Charlie Brown?
Unlike earlier attempts at a deficit-cutting deal, this one is more modest. The president would cut corporate taxes to 28 percent from 35 percent, with a rate of 25 percent for manufacturers. Bloomberg News reports that he would tap about $2 trillion in untaxed offshore earnings, possibly by giving companies a one-time-only low rate to encourage the repatriation of income, though the White House isn’t saying what rate it favors.