The May 13 article (“Brewer approves tax cuts,” AFN) with a picture of a smiling Gov. Jan Brewer signing the law approving yet more business tax cuts was disappointing, but not surprising. It continues the myth we’ve heard from Republicans for decades: that investors will use these tax-savings to create more U.S. jobs. But not only have jobs continued to decline, now Arizona has more debt than it ever has. The effective U.S. corporate tax rate is already generating far less revenue than most other first-world countries thanks to loopholes, deductions and offsets in the tax code. Now they need even more?
How about changing the law to provide a tax break to a company that actually creates a new job, and if, after a year, that job still exists, then and only then do they get a retroactive credit. And if the job exists after a second year, they get a second tax credit. But Republicans’ insistence on providing these tax reductions on the “promise” of generating jobs, despite its demonstrated historical failure, is wishful thinking that is only adding to the state’s financial mess.
So if you truly believe government deficits are a problem, you cannot also be in favor of these new business tax cuts where the only sure outcome is loss of millions of dollars in revenue. Where is that money going to come from?
Elaine McKenna
