Sanders’s domestic policy agenda: It’s a budget buster. Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders would raise taxes by $15 trillion across all income groups, yet his proposed benefits would, according to new Urban Institute analysis, more than offset them for 95 percent of households. But the new TPC analysis, completed with the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Center and Income and Benefits Policy Center, finds that Sanders’s tax and transfer plan also would increase federal deficits by more than $18 trillion over the next decade. In other words, as TPC’s Howard Gleckman concludes, his plan would “provide a net benefit to most households, but only if he can somehow figure out how to pay for it.”
Meanwhile, Donald Trump wants to be clear… The GOP presumptive nominee elaborated on his tax plan’s plans yesterday. “Everybody’s getting a tax cut, especially the middle class. And I said that I may have to increase it on the wealthy. I’m not going to allow it to be increased on the middle class. Now, if I increase on the wealthy, that means they’re still going to be paying less than they pay now…” Grover Norquist offered some specifics: “Because Trump takes the top personal rate from 39.6 percent to 25 percent and the corporate rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, there is no way anyone would see an actual tax increase."
The Panama Papers: A tax haven for sleaze. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which first uncovered the records of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, has kept digging. Now they’ve found that at least 36 clients were offshore corporations operating as fronts for Americans accused of financial fraud. Some have criminal convictions, while others faced civil fraud charges. Looking for someone else? Afraid your name is on the list? You can search the database yourself here.
Which countries have the lowest corporate tax rates? A network of auditors and consulting firms known as UHY finds that Russia and the United Kingdom offer the lowest corporate tax rates. The group reports a global average effective tax rate of 27 percent, but companies in Russia pay 20 percent corporate rate while those in the UK pay a 21 percent corporate rate.
And times are tough in Brazil. The Wall Street Journal reports that Brazil’s former finance minister Guido Mantega has been detained for questioning in a continuing tax fraud investigation. Mantega may have influenced an appeals council to reverse $16 million in fines on a cement company.
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