One of my pet peeves is the often unprincipled posture of the large corporate community on matters of public policy. At the risk of over-generalizing, it is often totally self-interested and lacking in courage. A good example is the letter sent by the Business Roundtable, signed by 150 of its members, expressing its approval of year-end income tax rate increases, shortly after the Obama administration revealed its offer to include corporate tax reform, presumably including lower corporate tax rates, in the year-end deal. In other words, large corporate America was willing to have its tax rates lowered at least partially on the backs of increased rates for a million or so small business owners who, incidentally, are responsible for over 70% of all job creation. Corporate tax rate reduction is important, but it’s meaningless without being part of a comprehensive and principled plan to reduce the tax burden on our most productive people, and it’s even more damaging when it enables the White House to divide and conquer the business community. Shame on those who participate in these cynical ploys which almost always add to the problem.
