McCain's corporate givaway

This past weekend, John McCain hit the Sunday talk shows, and called for more tax cuts. He repeatedly said that American Corporate tax rates are among the highest in the world.

BUNK

This is simply a distortion and another manipulation of data. The official 35% corporate tax rates are rarely ever paid. That is why there is an alternative minimum tax rate - that McCain wants to repeal too!

In Health Care, providers charge one amount, knowing that they'll never get paid, and the insurance company cuts it back. The providers, by contract accept this as payment in full. (look at the EOB, Explanation of Benefits, that the insurance company sends you after your next doctor visit. In Pharmacy, reimbursement is based on the published AWP. AWP stands for Average Wholesale Price. I refer to AWP as Ain't What's Paid. If any pharmacy actually paid AWP, they'd go out of business, because insurance contracts reimburse at AWP -12% to -20%. Sometimes, like the Alternative Minimum Tax, Insurance companies impose MAC pricing... that is to say, Maximum Allowable Cost.

This is the same with corporate tax rates. No one pays them, and NOW, John McCain wants to drop that starting point further, AND the alternative minimum tax.

Point in fact, the reality is that the bottom line of what corporations pay, those in the United States are near the bottom of the list. (see reference from the CBO below.) With Corporate profits and Executive compensation packages at ridiculously record heights, and the divide between the rich and poor reaching levels not seen since the dawn of the industrial revolution... with all this, it is immoral to suggest even greater giveaways to the wealthy elite.

McCain is a lier.


CORPORATE INCOME TAX RATES:INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS

Although the United States’ statutory corporate tax rates are among the highest of those in OECD countries, they are comparable with the statutory rates imposed by other members of the Group of Seven (G7)


Taxes on Corporate Income in OECD Countries in 2002 as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product



1.0 Germany
1.1 Iceland
1.8 United States
2.0 Poland
2.2 Turkey
2.3 Austria
2.4 Hungary
2.4 Sweden
2.7 Switzerland
2.7 Slovak Republic
2.9 Denmark
2.9 France
2.9 United Kingdom
3.1 Republic of Korea
3.1 Japan
3.2 Italy
3.2 Spain
3.4 Canada
3.5 Belgium
3.5 Netherlands
3.6 Portugal
3.8 Greece
4.2 New Zealand
4.3 Finland
4.6 Chech Republic
5.3 Austraila
8.2 Norway
8.6 Luxenbourg