On CNBC’s Squawk Box today, ATR President Grover Norquist ripped the Obama administration for its latest attack on American competitiveness.
Asked about the prospects for tax reform, Norquist said:
“That’s what’s going to happen [inversions] until you have a different President who actually understands economics. We were told when Obama was elected he was a different Democrat, he was a Chicago Democrat who understood business. And a bunch of corporate CEOs and Fortune 500 people fell hard for it. It has now been eight years.
This is not a secret. We have a 39 percent tax. The European average – meaning half are stupider and half are better – is 25 percent. So we shoot ourselves in the feet, or rather our government hamstrings American businesses that try to compete internationally.
Add to that, we have a worldwide tax system. Of all the OECD countries, most do not.”
CNBC also notes Norquist’s statement that Obama is using tax reform as a hostage to get higher taxes and higher spending:
The founder of Americans for Americans for Tax Reform said President Barrack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid have blocked tax reform because Republicans have not been willing to agree to tax increases.
“Good ideas that everybody agrees on in Washington, D.C., are not known as passed legislation. They’re known as hostages,” Norquist told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“He’s been holding tax reform hostage,” he said.