We’re two years away from it, but that is not stopping Republican hopeful Chuck DeVore from launching an attack ad on Senator Barbara Boxer in the race for the California Senate seat. The ad is a 90 second spot and thankfully Internet-only.
Mr. DeVore is currently a member of the California Assembly representing coastal Orange County. He’s written a novel about a Chinese invasion of Taiwan which tells you his mindset, or lack of one. But in California, he is known for one issue, an unrelenting advocacy of nuclear power. He’s authored four bills on nuclear power, none of which have made it out of committee.
From his website:
Sen. Barbara Boxer’s career has focused on stopping domestic oil production, stopping nuclear power, and stopping tax cuts. With more and more Californians out of work, we can no longer afford her “No, no, no” philosophy.
I support environmentally sound oil extraction offshore using slant drilling from inland areas and in Alaska. Boxer claims to be for the environment, but has supported policies forcing America to buy oil from the other side of the planet, then pay more to ship it here. America needs America’s oil and gas.
I support modern, safe, and reliable nuclear power to produce baseload power with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions. Boxer opposes nuclear power, but then offers no viable replacement to the massive amounts of coal America burns.
Boxer wants higher taxes, yet America has the second-highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world and our taxes on capital are too high. California requires investments to turn ideas into intellectual capital into innovative products and services. I support lower taxes to spur growth and jobs. Only through higher rates of economic growth can America ever hope to make good on its $86 trillion in unfunded MediCare and Social Security obligations.
Actually, Chuck, what we can’t afford is more failed GOP policies be it energy or tax policy. The US does have the OECD’s second highest corporate tax rate at 39.25% trailing only Japan’s rate of 39.54% but that’s only a recent development and more a result of other countries’ lowering their highest tax rates rather than the US raising its tax rate (actually the US tax rate fell 0.3%). Since 2000, Germany has cut its top corporate rate by 25.2%, Canada by 19.1%, France by 7.4%, Belgium by 15.4%, Italy by 10.8%, Greece by 20.0%, the Netherlands by 10.0%, Luxembourg by 18.9%, Portugal by 21.9% and Korea by 10.7%. The average for the OECD is 27.6%. The difference, however, is that in the United States about two-thirds of companies don’t pay any corporate taxes.
And if you look at taxes paid as a ratio of GDP, the United States is the third lowest in the OECD. In 2004, the OECD finds that Sweden had the highest tax-to-GDP ratio among OECD countries, at 50.7% against 50.6% in 2003. Denmark came next at 49.6% (48.3%), followed by Belgium at 45.6% (45.4%). At the other end of the scale, Mexico had the lowest tax-to-GDP ratio, at 18.5%, against 19.0% in 2003. Korea had the second lowest, at 24.6% (25.3%), and the United States had the third, at 25.4% (25.6%). So the argument can be made in fact that we are an undertaxed country. And Chuck, just about all those countries in OECD get healthcare and free education for their taxes. We don’t.
Data for this post is from the OECD. Tax rate data reflects 2007 and tax-to-GDP ratio reflects 2004 data.