The handicapping of November’s congressional election is well underway as talking heads debate whether the GOP will win control of the Senate and pick up seats in the House. The betting on what policy topics will matter this fall has rarely strayed beyond Benghazi and immigration. Will anyone notice that the public is aware that Congress is fiddling while opportunity is fleeing the U.S. or take notice that the public wants action?
A recent David Binder Research/Public Opinion Strategies poll found that by a margin of 2 to 1, those surveyed support a reduction of 1000 basis points in the corporate tax rate. That is, they supported lowering the corporate rate from 35 percent to 25 percent and simplifying the tax code along the way. When it was pointed out that the U.S. led the world in high tax rates, the support for reducing the corporate rate increased to 67 percent, and resistance plummeted to a mere 23 percent, just shy of support being 3 to 1 in favor of tax relief.
As further proof, Rasmussen recently released a survey revealing that only a mere 6 percent of those surveyed thought the U.S. has the best tax system in the world.
These are not opinions based in ignorance, rather the public knows exactly what it’s talking about. Seventy-nine percent of the respondents in the David Binder poll agreed that the current tax code is far too complicated, favoring those who can hire a battalion of CPAs and attorneys to comply. The same number understand that other countries continue to reform their tax codes specifically to attract companies from high-tax jurisdictions such as the U.S., and that meanwhile Congress has done little to address the correctable spectacle of jobs and investment either not locating here or fleeing the country. Even worse, often those in Congress wag their fingers at companies looking to move when it is Congress that created the mess and is the only ones with the power to clean it up.
Citizens get it, can explain it, and understand that the failure of Congress to undertake tax reform is directly harming our country. The numbers are pretty clear—79 percent to 16 percent. That would be an election-day victory worth worldwide notice.
May 14, 2014