Global Corporate Tax Cuts Widen Gap With U.S.--Update
September 13 2017 - 10:38AM
Dow Jones News
By Paul Hannon
Governments around the world have continued to cut their tax
rates on company profits, pushing them further below that of the
U.S. as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
warned the competition to aid businesses may be going too far.
In its annual review of changes to tax policies, the Paris-based
think tank for rich countries Wednesday said continuing reductions
in corporate tax rates had lowered the average across its 35
members to 24.7% in 2016 from 32.2% in 2000.
The U.S. corporate tax rate of 35% is the highest among major
developed countries, and companies say it distorts economic
decisions and discourages investments in the U.S. Many companies
don't pay that full rate because of tax breaks created by Congress
to encourage certain activities and because they are earning and
booking profits in low-tax foreign countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump has set lowering that tax rate as
one of his top priorities, although it isn't clear how far Congress
will go given that each percentage point reduces corporate-tax
revenue by about $100 billion over a decade.
"We hope they can work together to get this done because it is
badly needed," said Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD's
Center for Tax Policy. "It would have an impact on growth in the
U.S. and the ability of U.S. companies to repatriate their
profits."
The OECD said Japan has undertaken one of the most aggressive
reductions over the past decade, lowering its tax rate by around 10
percentage points. Three other countries also lowered their rates
last year, while 11 are set to do so this year.
The Paris-based think tank has long championed reductions in
corporate tax rates as a way to boost growth, but now worries they
may go too far.
"An increase in corporate tax rate competition...raises
challenging questions for governments seeking to strike the right
balance between maintaining a competitive tax system and ensuring
they continue to raise the revenues necessary to fund vital public
services, social programs and infrastructure," OECD Secretary
General Ángel Gurria said.
However, the OECD expects tax rates to settle down after the
U.S. completes its reform. In its view, some of the recent
reduction in rates has been a response to an internationally
coordinated effort to close loopholes that allowed companies that
operate across a number of countries to avoid payments.
"I wouldn't expect countries to go much further down," said Mr.
Saint-Amans "Going too low may trigger political reactions."
In that context, the OECD sees little prospect that a cut in the
U.S. tax rate would spur other governments to go even lower.
"The U.S. would be almost the last one to join the club," said
Mr. Saint-Amans. "The U.S. would just complete the move toward
lower corporate tax."
The think tank said that while revenues from corporate taxes
across its membership rose to 2.9% of economic output in 2015 --
the most recent year for which complete figures are available --
they remained well below the 3.6% recorded in 2007, as the
financial crisis loomed.
The OECD's figures show that despite a high tax rate, the U.S.
doesn't raise a particularly large amount of revenue from
businesses. At 2.19% of its gross domestic product in 2015,
corporate tax revenue was below the OECD average.
Indeed, compared with other OECD members, the U.S. continued to
be a relatively low-tax economy. In 2015, only Chile, Mexico,
Ireland and South Korea collected fewer taxes relative to the size
of their economies. At 46.5% of economic output, the Danish
government's tax take was the highest, well above the 26.4%
collected by the U.S. government. Across the OECD as a whole, the
tax take rose to 34.3% of economic output in 2016, the highest
since records began in 1965.
"Member countries have collected more tax to pay for the debt
and the deficit," Mr. Saint-Amans said.
Write to Paul Hannon at paul.hannon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 13, 2017 10:23 ET (14:23 GMT)
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