Corporate Tax

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration will propose lowering the current 35 percent corporate tax rate, while eliminating loopholes and subsidies and imposing a minimum tax on the overseas profits of American companies. Administration officials said the Treasury Department on will detail aspects today of President Obama's proposed overhaul of the corporate tax system, a plan he broadly outlined in his State of the Union speech last month. The 35 percent nominal corporate tax rate is the highest in the world after Japan.

As the Louisiana's budget woes pile up and tax break bills continue to sail through the Legislature, lawmakers are setting the stage for a wholesale review of the billions of dollars in tax exemptions, rebates and credits on the books. The effort is being pushed by Republicans and Democrats who are starting to wonder if they've been too generous with the state's coffers over the years. The Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Jack Donahue, is pushing to create a 12-member commission to review all tax breaks on the books after the current legislative session...

President Obama will propose an overhaul of the US corporate tax system in February, said Gene Sperling, the White House's director of the National Economic Council. The proposal will be released at about the same time as the administration's fiscal 2013 budget plan, which is scheduled to be sent to Congress on Feb. 13, Sperling told reporters on a conference call yesterday. The administration is not releasing details of the proposal. Obama has said the corporate rate should be lowered from the current maximum of 35 percent in a way that does not add to the budget deficit.

Michigan's budget will have about $300 million more this year than predicted in January, a combination of higher-than-expected tax payments and fewer people receiving Medicaid and welfare benefits, state economists said Wednesday. Much of the extra money may go into Michigan's rainy day fund or be set aside in case the state loses legal fights over collecting income taxes on public pensions or having state workers pay more of their pension costs, budget director John Nixon said.

WASHINGTON - The Treasury Department released a long-awaited study yesterday on overhauling corporate tax laws, detailing several options but making no recommendations. The 116-page report laid out broad approaches to policy and discussed advantages and shortfalls of various proposals. Treasury officials, however, said they did not expect any legislation to pass Congress next year given the complexity of the issue and the fact that President Bush will be in his final year in office.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said today the current business tax system is bad for business and for job-creation and argued that President Barack Obama's plan to reduce corporate tax rates to 28 percent would make the tax system more globally competitive. The Obama administration is proposing to lower the corporate tax rate from the current 35 percent, the highest in the world after Japan. Manufacturers would receive incentives so that their effective tax rate could be even lower.

WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner laid out the key elements of President Obama's business tax reform plan this morning, calling the country's current corporate tax code outdated, unfair, and inefficient because of an artificially inflated rate that pays for special benefits for certain industries. Companies in some industries end up paying two or three times the effective tax rate as companies in other industries, he said. As a result, the current system hurts economic growth and job creation.

The Massachusetts corporate income tax rate will decline from 8.25 percent to 8 percent on Sunday as a result of a bill Governor Deval Patrick signed into law in 2008. The decrease is the last in a series of three; the corporate income tax rate was at 9.5 percent three years ago. Since 2009, related laws to close tax loopholes have helped recapture revenue lost because of the declining rate. Steps such as lowering the corporate tax "are part of our comprehensive recovery strategy," Greg Bialecki, secretary of Housing and Economic Development, said in a news release.

WASHINGTON -- It's a day of dueling tax plans. Moments after President Obama rolled out a sweeping overhaul proposal for corporate taxes -- wiping out many deductions while reducing the corporate tax rate -- Republican primary contender Mitt Romney this afternoon introduced tax reductions of his own. The differences between the two plans reflect the divergent approaches to taxes underlying their election campaigns. Obama has chosen not to pursue changes in income tax rates, and instead wants to eliminate tax breaks, deductions, and special strategies that allow many...

Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Mitt Romney offered an expanded tax- cut plan today, turning the focus of the Republican presidential campaign back to economic issues before a potentially crucial televised debate tonight. "My plan will create jobs," Romney told a campaign rally in Chandler, Arizona, just hours before the candidates face off for the first time in a month in the debate in Mesa. Romney's plan would set a permanent top tax rate of 28 percent for individuals from 35 percent now, cut corporate taxes to 25 percent from 35 percent, eliminate the estate tax and scrap the alternative...

Kudos to Adrian Walker ("No room for debate," Metro, April 23) for shedding light on the recent treatment of a group of students and activists who sought to meet with staff at Senator Scott Brown's Boston office. The group of about 30 people wanted to talk about federal funding for summer jobs, but they were denied access to the public building. Brown's reelection campaign claims to focus on jobs, but he has filibustered or voted against bills to support the unemployed or to create jobs, citing the stock Republican excuses of fiscal responsibility and the national debt —...

A published report says Apple Inc. uses subsidiaries in Ireland, the Netherlands and other low-tax nations as part of a strategy that enables the technology giant to cut its global tax bill by billions of dollars every year. The New York Times on Sunday outlined legal methods used by Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple to avoid paying billions of dollars in federal and state taxes. One approach highlighted in the report: Even though the company is based in California, Apple has set up a small office in Reno, Nev. to collect and invest its profits.

RENO - Apple, the world's most profitable technology company, doesn't design iPhones here. It doesn't run AppleCare customer service from this city. And it doesn't manufacture MacBooks or iPads anywhere nearby. Yet, with a handful of employees in a small office here in Reno in a subsidiary named Braeburn Capital, Apple has done something central to its corporate strategy: It has avoided millions of dollars in taxes in California and 20 other states. Apple's headquarters are in Cupertino, Calif.

1773 Fed up after years of taxation by the British government and in response to the Tea Act, Colonial activists chuck East India Company tea into Boston Harbor.   1787 US Constitution is adopted, and federal government gets power to levy taxes. President Washington sends troops to western Pennsylvania to quell violent reaction to Congress's whiskey tax. 1861 To fund the Civil War, Congress establishes a federal income tax. It is allowed to expire in 1872.

WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner laid out the key elements of President Obama's business tax reform plan this morning, calling the country's current corporate tax code outdated, unfair, and inefficient because of an artificially inflated rate that pays for special benefits for certain industries. Companies in some industries end up paying two or three times the effective tax rate as companies in other industries, he said. As a result, the current system hurts economic growth and job creation.

Bay State executives had a mixed reaction to President Obama's proposal to reduce the corporate tax rate from 35 to 28 percent, while eliminating dozens of deductions. Several Massachusetts business groups applauded the idea of reducing the rate and simplifying the tax code by eliminating a variety of tax breaks and shelters. But others criticized changes they said would make it harder for companies to compete in a global economy. For instance, the White House proposed creating a minimum tax on foreign income to prevent companies from sheltering money overseas, which...

Sixty-eight out of 265 Fortune 500 companies across the country paid no state corporate income taxes in at least one of the last three years, according to a new report. The companies included in the study - including EMC Corp. and Raytheon Co. of Massachusetts - earned a combined $1.33 trillion in profits over the last three tax years and managed to shelter at least half of their profits from state taxes, according to Matthew Gardner, executive director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and a coauthor of the report.

President Barack Obama wants to close dozens of loopholes that let some companies pay little or nothing in taxes. But he also wants to open new ones for manufacturers and companies that invest in clean energy. To some analysts, the new loopholes risk upending the level playing field Obama says he wants to create. Some also fear that companies could game the system to grab the new tax breaks. "The administration is not making sense," says Martin Sullivan, contributing editor at publisher Tax Analysts.

WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney yesterday vowed to cut individual tax rates by 20 percent, unveiling a crucial piece of his economic plan just hours before the Republican presidential debate in Arizona and potentially shifting the conversation toward his strength, fiscal matters. Romney, providing an advance peek into his major economic address set for Detroit tomorrow, told an audience in Arizona that the lower rates would be fairer, force government to shrink, and spark economic activity.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said today the current business tax system is bad for business and for job-creation and argued that President Barack Obama's plan to reduce corporate tax rates to 28 percent would make the tax system more globally competitive. The Obama administration is proposing to lower the corporate tax rate from the current 35 percent, the highest in the world after Japan. Manufacturers would receive incentives so that their effective tax rate could be even lower.