ATR president Grover Norquist joined Stuart Varney on Fox Business Network’s Varney & Co. to discuss lowering the corporate income tax rate, which could help bring businesses back to the United States and aid the country in recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.
Varney brings up that, while cutting the corporate tax rate would be great, it simply will not happen if President Trump doesn’t win reelection.
Norquist responded:
“When President Trump won in 2016, we took the rate from 35 percent—highest in the world—down to 21 percent. The President wanted 15 percent, but Congress would only give him 21 percent. 21 percent is much better than 35 percent.
Remember, Communist China is at 25 percent. Before Trump, to invest in an American company, you were taxed… more than 1/3 more because you were investing in America, so it made sense to invest money in other countries, as the corporate rate was lower in other countries. We were driving people out of the United States into Canada—into other countries. Ten percent would be better, 15 percent would be better… but it should be for everybody, not just people leaving China—people thinking about going to China should get 10 percent as well.”
Varney then rightly mentions that, with the House currently being controlled by the Democrats, a corporate tax rate cut wouldn’t pass until Republicans gain seats back. Grover acknowledges this and takes it further, discussing how the corporate tax rate would look under a Biden presidency:
“Not only not with this Congress, but Biden, who is the Democratic nominee, we assume, argued for going back to 35 percent. Sometimes he says 28 percent, sometimes he says, “repeal it all,” which means 35 percent. So whatever Biden is supporting that day—28 percent or 35 percent—in both cases he wants to tax companies that invest in America, more damagingly, with a higher rate than Communist China… Biden would bring us back to the hemorrhaging.”
Decreasing the corporate tax rate would give American businesses desperately-needed relief, keep businesses in America, and incentivize businesses to come back to America.