Business
Chamber Wants YOU To Pay While Business Gets Tax Breaks
September 22, 2011 
The Idaho Chamber Alliance met in Meridian this week to plan how to influence the legislature. The Chamber of Commerce is a private special interest lobbying group–not officially connected with government.
The alliance consists of 21 chambers of commerce from across Idaho, including Boise Metro, Eagle, Garden City, Gem County, Kuna, Meridian and Nampa.
Their legislative priority list, from a news release:
–Initiatives to create jobs
–The reduction of the Corporate Income Tax to make the Idaho more competitive in attracting business. Idaho’s is one of the highest in the region.
–The rebuilding and expansion of our transportation and infrastructure, including the Meridian Interchange.
–Local Option Tax. That’s where local governments can ask voters to approve taxes to pay for infrastructure improvements.
This is in keeping with the Chamber philosophy that businesses will locate in the area based on low taxes and how much local governments will give away.
They claim the worker bees will take care of the taxes out of the wages earned. The GUARDIAN has long opposed that plan and the current economic and job situation has certainly proven to be flawed.
Read more: http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2011/09/21/idahopolitics/idaho_chambers_want_tax_corporate_tax_cuts_more_jobs_and_roads_l#ixzz1YhUx7NDv
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Comments & Discussion
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Sep 22, 2011, 2:29 pm
At least they met in town, rather than a retreat in the mountains.
Sep 22, 2011, 2:59 pm
According to THE TAX FOUNDATION…
http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/topic/25.html
“…Idaho’s corporate tax structure consists of a flat rate of 7.6% on all corporate income. Among states levying corporate income taxes, Idaho’s rate ranks 20th highest nationally. In 2009, state-level corporate tax collections were 93m per capita, which ranks the state 32nd among states that tax corporate income.”
That doesn’t sound excessive.
Moreover, as this New York Times article famously pointed out earlier this year…
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html?pagewanted=all
…America’s largest corporation, General Electric, paid no (federal) tax in 2010!
Doesn’t a casual read of the New York Times article suggest that any official corporate income tax “rate” may not be as meaningful as the loopholes that may exist at both the federal and the state levels?
Also, a few months ago, some of Idaho’s “masters of the universe” famously predicted NIKE would relocate from Oregon to Idaho, presumably because Oregon’s leaders dared to raise taxes.
Well, time keeps on passing and Idahoans are still waiting.
But NIKE remains headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon.
I wish Idaho’s “masters of the universe” would explain why their prediction hasn’t come true.
Sep 22, 2011, 9:22 pm
Interesting approach to corporate taxation by Mark Cuban, owner of Dallas Mavericks and a whole bunch more! His quote is long note but worth a read.
“There is an ongoing refrain from some that any increase in Taxes will have a negative impact on investment and job creation. Not true in 99.99pct of cases. Never has been. Never will be. First the .01% times where it may be true. Potentially, a person could have some amount of money less than what they need to start a company because they paid say 1k dollars more in taxes this year than they did last year. This could happen and I’m sure it has happened. but its the exception that proves the rule.
Now the rule…
People driven to succeed are driven to succeed. People driven by money are driven by money. People driven to compete, compete. We live in a country that puts an emphasis on achievement. Not just financial achievement. The ability to set goals and achieve them. We celebrate and reward those that accomplish their goals. It is part of the very fabric of what makes this country so amazingly unique.
Those of us who are driven by money have a number that we strive for. People like me. (If you want to learn more about people like me, read this). We want to be a millionaire. Once we become a millionaire, some of us want more. Some of us don’t. But once you hit the first number you begin to make decisions in your life about how you might get to the next number or just use what you have to make your life (and possibly the life of others) better.
Others set goals and define success and achievement in any number of ways. In no cases do any of them examine the tax rate. In fact, I would be willing to bet that 99pct of us completely ignore the tax rate. Why ? Because we know that the rewards we all value the most came as the result of our efforts. Something that no tax rate is going to take away from us.
The risk of starting a business . The risk of making an investment in the sweat equity of someone else’s efforts. The risk of starting a charity. The risk of taking a new job. The risk of adding a new employee, etc, etc, etc. I have NEVER met a motivated person who has said they would not chase their goals because of tax rates.
Personal achievement is not the only motivating factor that over-rides taxation. Business to business competition ALWAYS over-rides taxation. If you own or run a business you have to best your competitors. As long as they pay under the same tax structure as your business, it’s all about who can do a better job. Not what the tax rate is.
Of course none of this is going to stop big companies from arguing that higher taxes impacts job creation. Of course they are going to argue it. The less they pay in taxes, the higher their earnings per share and the greater the value of their stock and options. If a big company needs employees to stay competitive in their industry(s) you better believe they are going to hire that person no matter what it takes. They will find the money some how. Even if it means lowering their political contributions and lobbying costs or bringing in cash held overseas.
This is a country that competes to win. That is not going to change.
In fact, follow this logic. Its counter intuitive, but its absolutely true. The higher the tax rate on income the more risks us money chasers have to take in order to hit our number. If you want that number, you are going to go for it. Period, end of story. More risk, more companies started, more people hired.” Mark Cuban Blog
http://blogmaverick.com/