"Obama’s business record, cont’d " Ezra Klein at WP (the myth that Obama is anti-business)

[applegrove]

Obama’s business record, cont’d

Ezra Klein at WP

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/obamas-business-record-contd/2012/06/12/gJQAGZXvXV_blog.html

"SNIP................................................

In a sense, Carroll is right: The United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the world.

But in another sense, Carroll is wrong: The United States does not have the highest corporate tax rate in the world.

When people talk about the corporate tax rate, they can be talking about one of two things: The tax rate that the law says corporations should pay, and the tax rate that corporations, after taking advantage of various deductions and exemptions and loopholes, actually pay.

The first is called the “statutory tax rate,” and at 35 percent — 39 percent if you include state taxes — it’s the highest in the world. The second is called the “effective tax rate,” and it’s considerably lower, though still on the high end internationally. Here’s a good graph from The New York Times on how it’s changed in recent years:

........................................

The Wall Street Journal says the situation is even starker than that: If you include the “bonus depreciation” tax break, which President Obama signed into law and which I mentioned in the column, the effective corporate tax rate in 2011 was 12.1 percent

....................................................SNIP"