[alexeisadeski3]

1. All corporations in all nations game the tax system as much as possible.

2. The US corporations still pay more tax than do corporations in other nations.

3. US corporations with no foreign income tend to pay ~35% after deductions (per "independent" study cited above).

[afterburner]

So basically what you're telling me is it's very hard to properly compare the final effective tax rates on corporations in two different countries. The study above doesn't compare to other countries. So you don't actually know if it's really worse in the US.

[alexeisadeski3]

The effective US rates are higher than foreign statutory rates.

So yes, its easy to tell that US corp tax rates are higher.

[afterburner]

"Over the last 10 years, General Electric’s Effective Tax Rate Was 2.3 Percent"

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/02/27/433250/general-e...

I could probably find numerous such examples among the richest companies in the US. So something about your claims doesn't work.

[alexeisadeski3]

That's just another made up number.

"There are more ways to measure effective tax rates than there are to order coffee at Starbucks"

http://taxprof.typepad.com/files/140tn0197.pdf

[afterburner]

Any number that disagrees with your premise is just wrong? Well, your world view is unassailable then isn't it?

So tell me, what do you want? Lower taxes on corporations? They don't seem to be fleeing the US, and are reporting higher profits than ever.

[alexeisadeski3]

Numbers are wrong if they're wrong.

Read the paper I linked. If you want to argue, argue with the points he makes (and which I've attempted to repeat here). The paper very specifically addresses the sorts of made up numbers which you've cited.

All taxes are distortionary. For maximum efficiency, all income taxes (which by definition punish income and saving) should be replaced with progressive VATs (thus encouraging income and saving). The worst distortionary taxes are the capital gains tax (which solely punishes saving) and the corporate income tax (which has no reason to exist at all - all disbursements are taxed as personal income tax anyways, hence the double taxation complaints).

And yes, some companies do leave the US:

...Bisaro also extolled the added benefit of lowering his company's effective tax rate, which he forecast would drop from 28% to 17%. Based on Bisaro's strongly-held opinions about U.S. corporate tax policy, that must have been a major selling point for the deal. [1]

And hey, guess what I bet you didn't know? It's actually illegal for US companies to leave the country! They have to "merge" with a foreign company to move out.

[1] http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2013/05/21/actavis-the...