‘Reform’ a taxing matter

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Senate wants to play political football with tax reform. And that’s the rub. When politicians talk “reform,” that generally translates into trouble.

But when politicians “cut” taxes, that generally translates into economic and wage growth.

That’s just what this economy needs — both a corporate and an individual tax cut, where all taxpaying workers and all corporations end up paying lower taxes at the end of the day.

The problem isn’t with President Trump’s desire to lower rates. The problem begins and ends with DC politicians. It must be ingrained in their DNA: They just can’t make a simple thing simple.

Lowering taxes for consumers and corporations does not have to be an arduous or complicated process.

Congress could have cut each existing rate on corporations and individuals by five percentage points, 10 percent to 5 percent, 25 percent to 20 percent and so on. Then it could just sit back and watch the economy grow.

In the US, the corporate rate is 35 percent, the highest in the developed world. That’s much too high to keep solid, sustainable jobs in America — or bring them back here.

The tax plan should not be a plan in which the bulk of the benefits only go to corporate America.

When you compare corporate America’s balance sheets to the individual American’s, it’s not even close. Corporate America has stellar balance sheets and excess cash that won’t be invested here because of our high tax rates.

But the consumer’s balance sheet is still a mess, courtesy of the housing crisis, eight straight years of sub-2 percent gross domestic product growth and skyrocketing health-care and college tuition costs.

In no way should the tax code be used as a football to start political warfare, or to pit socioeconomic classes against one another. Let it be a uniting experience.