Paying taxes

In the Dec. 16 PolitiFact column titled “Trump tax claim mostly adds up,” the statement is deemed “mostly true” about the statutory corporate tax rate being 35%.

However, buried in paragraph 16, far beyond where most people read, PolitiFact states, “a March report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that in each year from 2002 to 2012, at least two-thirds of all active corporations had no federal income tax liability.”

Wait a minute — all right, Trump’s statement was deemed true on the face of it, but if two-thirds of all active corporations had no federal income tax liability, why are they complaining about high taxes and who is paying for our gigantic federal infrastructure? The military establishment, education, health, the highway system and everything else the federal government is responsible for and that corporations benefit from on a daily basis come from these taxes. I fear the answer is “us,” the average citizens who dutifully pay their taxes without the benefit of corporate loopholes.

So if President Donald Trump reduces the tax rate on corporations, is the goal then that none of them will contribute financially to our nation or pay their fair share? Also unsaid, does it mean corporations not only get away with not paying for all our government services, but that they get a rebate as well?

Please fact-check this statement presented by PolitiFact, and if it is deemed “true,” please inform the public of this travesty and call for an honest revision and application of our tax code.

David H.B. Drake

Milwaukee Please email your letters to jsedit@jrn.com, or mail them to Letters to the editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, P.O. Box 371, Milwaukee, Wis. 53201-0371. Letters are generally limited to 200 words and are subject to editing.