Lost in the current noise level is a huge payoff to Bush's corporate base - a temporary lowering of the corporate tax rate to 5.25% (from 35%) for one year only. Earlier, I
spotted a comment from one financial analyst that hinted this bill might be more costly than initially thought. It looks like my estimates of the true impact were off by a
couple of hundred billion!
I had thought that this might take the current $150 billion tax bill up to $250 Billion, but JP Morgan says it might be
up to $300 to 400 Billion in profits ready to take advantage of the foreign profit repatriation tax "special".
That means a total giveaway of more than $450+ Billion as a parting gift to his most loyal "base". It's difficult to cite a direct reference because this discussion is mostly in industry trades, but there has obviously been a full court press on this issue. You can find many articles in the places such as the
San Jose Mercury News (registration required) as far back as March that lay the groundwork for this.
In its most simplistic terms, you could isolate $300 billion dollars that will now be taxed at 5.25% rather than the usual 35%. Without taking anything else into consideration; that could be $100 Billion dollars in lost tax revenue against our ballooning deficit - that we will have to make up out of our own pockets.
They rationalize this as money that will be "invested" back into the US economy and job creation. I won't hold my breath, if you don't mind. This is greed, pure and simple, and payback - they should be ashamed.
I realize that this isn't a major brickbat to use in the final days, but I'm astounded that fiscal conservatives aren't outraged at the fox loose in the henhouse. On the plus side, I suppose this means his supporters think Bush's days are numbered and they better cash in their chips now...