[geff82]

We don't know about the side effects yet, but a 15% corporate tax would be the starting signal for some entrepreneurial friends of mine to found a company in the USA the second the bill has passed. There is no other big market with such a low corporate tax.

[DaiPlusPlus]

Corporate taxes are on profits - it's very easy for a company, especially a startup, to not make a profit - ever - if they reinvest the earnings before the end of the tax year or the shareholders make drawings. I don't see how low corporate tax rates will spur new startups - but I do see it as incentivizing the repatriation of foreign-earned income by large multinationals.

On the contrary, I think a higher and progressive corporate tax rate would spur startups because it would serve as a governor to prevent large corporations (of the faceless variety) becoming large conglomerates - which generally have a depressive effect on the economy - thus giving smaller and more nimble startups an opportunity to compete.

> There is no other big market with such a low corporate tax.

Ireland's corporate tax rate is 12.5% ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_tax_in_the_Republi... ) and as Ireland is in the EU it has full access to the largest single market in the world - but I'll concede the EU's market is fragmented by localization issues and less demand for high-technology compared to North America.

[geff82]

I can tell you that I would not set foot in a country with high taxes. The US has some special incentives which even nowadays make it attractive (honestly, the US is so rich, big and special that the tax rate does not matter too much in the grand total), but in general, as a European there is no need for me to accept anything more than 25% when starting out. Everyone who starts out wants to keep their money. Especially starters need low taxes so they can invest more (and not only in the present year to get "deductions").

[geff82]

What I want to say: why bother with a 10% tax rate in Bulgaria (which has access to the EU, but gives you some things to explain why you are there) at 100.000 profit when you can have 1.000.000 profit in the bigger market that the US is at 35%.

[vkou]

So, they wouldn't sell to the biggest, richest market in the world, with some of the best infrastructure, cheapest energy, no shortage of wealthy customers and educated labour, (With some of the lowest levels of labour protection in the developed world...) Until we slash the taxes they will pay on profits?

Given that we are in an era of cheap credit, your friends sound insane.

[geff82]

You think that there aren't good markets outside the US and that every business needs/wants to go global. If I want to become a millionaire, I can just stay within the EU and not touch the US at all. So my friends (and me included) do not necessarily have to take the burden to setup business in another continent. But very low taxes AND a big single market are an interesting combination.

[mtempleton]

To be fair, there are more people worried about how they can afford healthcare and home ownership than worried about increasing the number of millionaires and wealthy corporations in America--we already lead the world there, while we trail behind in the former problems.

[adamwathan]

The corporate tax rate here in Canada is 15% for profit up to $500,000, and 25% after that.

We also have a lot of rules in place to prevent income from being double taxed, for example if my business pays taxes on $400,000 in profit and I take $150,000 in dividends, I get credit for the 15% in taxes that the business already paid and am only responsible for the other ~15% that I would have owed if I had made all of that $150,000 in regular personal income.

I was surprised to find that the US corporate tax system is so brutal compared to what we have here. Higher rates, double taxation, enforcing that you pay yourself a salary and not just dividends, etc.

[hackuser]

IIRC, the overall US corporate tax burden is one of the lowest. The idea that it's so hard on corporations is, AFAIK, a talking point of corporate lobbyists. I'm open to any actual evidence, however.

Even "double taxation" is a talking point. Generally, money is taxed when it is transacted between entities: When someone pays a business (income), when you buy something (sales tax), when an employee is paid (personal income), etc. It's not taxed when it sits still. Money is double-, triple-, and in fact infinitely taxed, using the same definition, as it moves around different entities in the economy. The idea that the transaction between a corporation and its owners should be treated differently is very convenient to a select group of people.