Let's Become a Corporate Tax Haven

What if, instead of countries hiding their money overseas, they were investing it in the US? Ramesh Ponnuru at Bloomberg thinks that not only is it possible, it's the best solution to America's corporate tax quandary. America's 35% corporate tax rate is the highest in the developed world, which people on both sides of the aisle agree is a problem. But most small businesses pay the individual rate, which just went up, and it's politically deadly to cut taxes for big business while raising them for small ones.

So Ponnuru is backing an idea from California Republican Devin Nunes, who proposes taxing all businesses the same way: based on their cash flow, which is to say, income minus investments other than interest. "This would make the US the largest tax haven in human history," Nunes argues. He wants to simultaneously drop the rate to 25%, but Ponnuru worries that would cost the government too much money. Even if you left it at 35%, he writes, "the number that matters—the effective tax rate on investments—would be a very competitive zero." Click for the full column. (More Ramesh Ponnuru stories.)