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Friday, July 11, 2008

2004 American Jobs Creation Act - Wall Street (Journal) and Main Street

On July 1 the WSJ, run by Rupert Murdoch and his News Corporation, ran an article titled "Corporate Tax Cut Windfall." The authors lavishly praised the 2004 American Jobs Creation Act, and suggested that the dramatic lowering of the corporate tax rate on repatriated earnings was a great success.
I wrote a response to this article, which the WSJ predictably chose not to print. I am putting it up here for interested readers. (I will note that 'double taxation' and whether corporations should be taxed at all are separate issues that are not considered here.)
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Dear Madam or Sir,

In your Editorial Opinion article titled "Corporate Tax Cut Windfall"
(July 1, 2008) you praise the 2004 American Jobs Creation Act and cite IRS
data that showed 'more than 800 U.S. corporations repatriated $362
billion from foreign operations.' You also claim that these dollars are
now being invested in the U.S., rather than remaining in Europe or China.

To be intellectually honest, you have to first determine how many
incremental American Jobs were created, because that is THE title and the
objective of the Act. Secondly, regarding your claim that these dollars
are being invested in the U.S., you have to first determine how many
investment opportunities were being left on the table by these 800
companies in 2003/2004 because they were short of dollars or capital,
prior to the Act. I am also curious about the methodology used to
differentiate the use of this repatriated money from the use of cash from
operations or from other sources by the companies.

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