Financial Transparency Coalition

I heard a lot of things I liked during President Obama’s State of the Union address this evening. I also heard a couple of things I didn’t like. I’ll get to those. I want to talk specifically about his statements on corporate taxation. I’ll have to leave his statements on individual taxes to someone else. From the transcript of tonight’s State of the Union: Right now, companies get tax breaks for moving jobs and profits overseas. Meanwhile, companies that choose to stay in America get hit with one of the highest tax rates in the world. It makes no sense, and...

This week, barring some extraordinary unforeseen circumstance, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote to reject President Obama’s request to raise the debt ceiling. “Oh no,” I can already hear America’s collective sigh. “Are you kidding me? Again?” Well, actually, not again. In case you need a reminder of the horrific events of last August (I certainly don’t want one), in what should have been a routine vote, Congress nearly failed to raise the debt ceiling, which would have sparked an economic Armageddon. I do not use that term lightly. Just in case you need another reminder, the debt ceiling has nothing...

The list of four-letter words in frequent use by policy makers in Washington, Brussels, and other government capitals dealing with potential fiscal insolvency has no doubt grown steadfastly in recent months. And perhaps the dirtiest, most toxic of those words is also the most innocuous: debt. Indeed, talks of an American default earlier last month and the real danger of a Greek withdrawal from the Euro zone have called for strong reevaluation of the balance between government spending habits and revenue sources on both sides of the Atlantic. On the latter point, the issue has brought long-deserved attention...