BrendanNyhan Surowiecki drops some poli sci: "people vastly overrate the influence of the bully pulpit" http://j.mp/d3glOE Pundits: It's not so hard!Wall Street, the White House, and the weak economy : The New Yorker THE FINANCIAL PAGE about President Obama’s tense relationship with Wall Street…- BrendanNyhan As Chait says, the Kaiser poll doesn't prove health care reform is popular; opposition trending down now but support flat http://j.mp/c853RhHealth Care Reform Popular? Not So Fast. | The New Republic The New Republic covers politics, culture, and the arts with a focus on national politics, foreign policy, Congress, Capitol Hill, the 2010 midterm elections, literature, and more.
- BrendanNyhan How does Pawlenty not know that the US has relatively low tax rates? Isn't that central to conserv. critique of Europe? http://j.mp/bDt3rQPolitiFact | Tim Pawlenty says the U.S. is not undertaxed compared to its competitors Tim Pawlenty -- Minnesota's outgoing Republican governor and a likely candidate for president in 2012 -- met with Washington reporters on July 26, 2010, for a wide-ranging discussion of politics and policy. One of the things he said made it into the reports of at least two journalists in attendance, Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post and John Dickerson of Slate.. Asked what his reaction would be if a presidential commission on the national debt were to recommend a mix of spending cuts and tax increases, Pawlenty said, "Not good. I don't think the argument can be credibly made that ...
- BrendanNyhan Alan Abramowitz forecasts GOP will gain 300-350 seats in state legislatures and take control of 8-10 chambers http://j.mp/bJqDmy
- BrendanNyhan Fox News hosts repeatedly ask whether people who don't pay taxes should be allowed to vote http://j.mp/9rFLcb
Update 7/30 12:51 PM: Pawlenty's camp claims he was referring to the US corporate tax rate, but that isn't clear from the context available in either source cited by Politifact. And in any case, the effective corporate tax burden (rather than the statutory rate) is actually relatively low in the US.
I think Pawlenty gave the right answer on taxes:
when we contacted Pawlenty's camp, a spokesman cited the high rates of corporate taxes in the U.S. "This unacceptably high corporate tax rate makes the U.S. less competitive by encouraging companies to shift investment to nations with lower corporate tax rates," said spokesman Alex Conant.
...Corporate taxes are comparatively high in the U.S., and that's a worry for businesses and, indirectly, for their employees and customers.
I have read that US corporate tax rates are the highest in the world. Because it's easier than ever for businesses to move overseas, the corporate tax rate is key.
I'm amused by the way PoliFact downplayed this point. They observed that high corporate tax rates harm only those who own stock, work for corporations or buy goods from corporations. That includes everyone.
In fact, that's not even the full toll. If corporations move to other countries, federal, state, and local tax revenues will fall, putting pressure on government employees as well. States and localities understand this principle. Not infrequently, they will give a special tax break to encourage a large business to move there or to discourage them from moving away.
Posted by: David in Cal | July 30, 2010 at 11:11 AM
Did Fox News really repeatedly ask whether people who don't pay taxes should be allowed to vote? According to the cite, Steve Doocy asked the question twice -- once in the teaser to his show and once more on the show itself.
Twice isn't "repeatedly". That words is defined as done, made, or said again and again; continual or incessant.
Posted by: David in Cal | July 30, 2010 at 11:22 AM
Three times - once by Doocy in the teaser then twice in a two minute segment by Bolling; I'd call that "repeatedly." Watch the videos that are linked off the MM page.
Posted by: bnyhan | July 30, 2010 at 12:47 PM
Added an update on Pawlenty above.
Posted by: bnyhan | July 30, 2010 at 12:51 PM
Interesting idea -- no representation without taxation. As for corporate taxes,you have to distinguish between tax rates on the books and tax rates actually paid. GE had an income of $10 billion last year and paid $0 (zero) in taxes. Why doesn't Fox ask whether corporations that pay no taxes should be allowed to pay for political ads?
Posted by: Jay Livingston | July 30, 2010 at 06:30 PM
"Repeatedly" is an ambiguous word. Perhaps it could mean as few as three times, but it also means continually or incessantly. I think many readers would assume the latter meaning. Try re-writing Brendan's tweet substituting three times for repeatedly and see how much less punch the more accurate version has.
However, Brendan behaved no worse than Fox News. Fox used an outrageous question to stimulate viewers of their program; Brendan used outrageous exaggeration to stimulate viewers of his blog.
Posted by: David in Cal | July 30, 2010 at 09:13 PM
Three times in one minute is "repeatedly," in my book...
Posted by: Scrooge McDuck | July 31, 2010 at 02:16 PM
Brendan provided a link for his comment:
the effective corporate tax burden (rather than the statutory rate) is actually relatively low in the US.
However, his link doesn't adress the effective corporate tax burden, although it does say that "corporate taxes only accounted for 12 percent of federal tax revenues in 2008."
In fact, the effective federal corporate tax rate will be around 35% for corporations with significant profits. In addition, corporations may pay state income tax, which is a flat 8.84% in CA (highest in the west.)
This means that a corporation earning $100 million in CA after tax would earn $178 million in tax-free Bermuda. That's why, in my field, Bermuda is home to lots of reinsurance companies while California has none AFAIK.
Posted by: David in Cal | July 31, 2010 at 02:26 PM
I must admit that some publications consider US conporate tax rates to be more comparable to other G7 countries because of differences in depriciation rules. See http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/69xx/doc6902/11-28-CorporateTax.pdf
Depreciation is insignificant for insurance companies. In this industry, US federal + state corporate tax rates are indeed the highest in the world. However, depreciation would matter for some other industries.
Posted by: David in Cal | August 01, 2010 at 02:56 PM