America once prided itself as being a land of opportunity – a place where one could rise through the ranks, build a successful business, and achieve the American dream. But today, our job-creators are under attack by the Obama Administration’s slew of burdensome mandates, growth-stifling red-tape, and job-killing taxes. This hostile environment has resulted in shuttered businesses nationwide and contributed to our unacceptably high unemployment numbers. Worse, millions of Americans have stopped looking for work altogether.
Caterpillar, one of America’s biggest manufacturing icons, came under fire this week for moving some of its profits through an offshore affiliate for tax purposes. While Caterpillar has stated that they have complied with all U.S. tax laws and paid everything they owe, Senator Carl Levin spent five hours during a Senate subcommittee hearing trying to show that the company – and others like it – are harming, rather than trying to boost, our economy by following the tax laws that Congress wrote.
Instead of demonizing Caterpillar and other American job creators, we should instead examine why our own tax code has forced this to occur. Why has the federal government created such a hostile environment for our job creators? The fact is, as long as the Obama Administration and Senate Democrats continue to flagrantly punish those who stand to help our economic recovery the most, these companies will continue to do what they can to remain profitable and ultimately, stay afloat. Take our current corporate tax rate, which currently sits at 35%. How can we expect American businesses to thrive and compete on an international level when they are facing the highest corporate tax rate in the world? At the same time, a 2013 study conducted by the World Bank concluded that it is easier to start a business in 19 other countries than the United States. It is clear that our policies are driving our own corporations overseas – and we shouldn’t be surprised that they are responding by creating jobs and profits anywhere but here.
If we want to encourage American companies to stop doing business overseas, we must enact a common-sense solution that will make serious reforms to the current corporate tax structure. That is why I have introduced H.R. 2373, the Jumpstarting Our Business Sector (JOBS) Act. My JOBS Act would permanently eliminate all corporate income taxes, capital gains taxes, and the estate tax. It would also temporarily extend the 100% expensing allowance for certain business expenses as well as the bonus depreciation allowance – all of which would reduce the tax burden on businesses and result in job creation in all industries.
The JOBS Act is the solution to creating jobs and getting government off the backs of American businesses. It’s time the United States is once again seen as a land of opportunity – and that starts with putting our tax code and current job policies under microscope instead of companies like Caterpillar.
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