Today’s News
Pot o’ Gold
August 8, 2005
I couldn’t have said it better myself. As my
predecessor Tom Jenney, vice chairman of the Arizona Federation of
Taxpayers, writes:
“In his latest paean to government economic
planning (‘Ireland could teach us a lot,’ Viewpoints, August 7),
Arizona Republic columnist
Jon Talton argues that Ireland’s ‘famous low taxes’ are not the cause of
Irish prosperity in recent years. His proof? ‘The Irish corporate tax
rate of 12.5 percent is well above Arizona's rate of 6.969 percent.’
What Talton failed to understand is that
corporations in Arizona face an average combined national and state tax
rate of 42 percent. That’s over three times as high as Ireland’s rate of
12.5 percent. Indeed, the Irish rate is among the lowest for developed
countries, well under the 30 percent average rate for OECD countries.
If Arizona politicians want Arizona to prosper and to become more competitive, they should repeal our state corporate income tax. It provides a mere seven percent of state revenue, and causes significant damage to our state economy. Meanwhile, they should petition Congress to drastically reduce the national corporate income tax rate, currently at a very uncompetitive 35 percent.”
Key Links:
-Talton:
"Ireland could teach us quite a lot"
-Benjamin Powell:
"Markets Created a Pot of Gold in Ireland"
Contact:
Andrea Woodmansee, Director of Communications,
Goldwater Institute
(602) 462-5000