CNBC Interviews the former Chairman & CEO of EY who says: “could you imagine today if business had that higher tax rate and was trying to deal with all of these COVID-19 issues? I don’t think we’re going to be able, in this environment, to go back to the massive tax increases on business.”
WATCH THE INTERVIEW HERE
JOE KERNEN: Would you foresee the GOP or Republicans bargaining with the corporate tax rate, and in your view, do you think that 21 went too far, is 25 okay, 28, whatever, or do you think that that was a good level and has it been helpful to corporations? you know, you can’t punt on this you may not know about the vaccine, but you know something about accounting, I hope. Is 21 okay?
MARK WEINBERGER: “21 is the right area because remember, 21 is the corporate rate at the federal level – you add in the state taxes, it’s around 24.5% or so and that’s about the average for OECD countries. In addition, remember they took away a lot of tax deductions and incentives, added some other ones in 2017. You know, Joe, remember: we saw a massive increase in CapEx expenditures, we saw a significant increase in hiring, a low unemployment rate followed, we saw for all different types of cohorts wage increases, payments to pay down pensions… The economy was on a great trajectory… Could you imagine today if business had that higher tax rate and was trying to deal with all of these COVID-19 issues? I don’t think we’re going to be able, in this environment, to go back to the massive tax increases on business. I think it would be a bad idea to deal with the growth that we’re going to have to have coming into next year.”
