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The Ambiguity of Business and Taxes

Taxation. It's one of the big talk-points and battle lines between the two moderate parties we have. Republicans love to slam Democrats for raising taxes and hurting business while Democrats love to slam Republicans for using tax cuts to benefit corporate deals made to further corporate greed at the expense of Americans.

The Tea Party has recently brought taxation to the forefront of the news by raging in a nearly incoherent way against the increases in tax funded programs, taking a nearly libertarian stance on the potential tax impacts. Again, the #1 cited reason for this rage? The interference with business that such costs would have.

What the hell do politicans mean when they say 'Business'? It's convenient to lump every kind of economic effort into a single word like 'business' and then use broad generalizations to talk about how a tax or legislation is for or against it.

But pay attention folks. Doing business in the US has changed enormously in the last fifteen years. With transportation and communication becoming stupidly easy, a new breed of company has arisen that has very little stake in what happens to the living conditions of any particular country. These corporations window shop for countries whose local business laws are most advantageous to their bottom line and invest money to adjust the laws in their favor throughout the world. Banking is done in one country or off-shore, the actual incorporation is done in another, and labor is moved to a third where employment laws and regulations are lax. Accounting and basic legal work is done in India while web sites are hosted in former USSR provinces where IP laws are weak or non-existent. These companies have no interest - NONE - in any one particular society.

This kind of company bears little resemblance to 'business' as it's understood by the average American. Most Americans, when asked, believe in business as the hard working entrepreneur whose enterprise might be a few, a dozen, or hundreds, but reflects a commitment to improving the economy, the lifestyle of the owners and employees, and the communities they exist in.

So here's the kick in the pants.

Follow the money. Money motivates people to act, and major political contributions are not the product of 'business' as the average American understand it.

Don't assume that when your party rep talks about being 'pro business' or that a tax will 'hurt business' that they are talking about you, or your community. Don't assume a proposed tax to help pay for our wars oversees or the amazing damage done to us by unregulated capitalism is automatically going to hurt business as you know it. There are almost no politicians in America who are seeking to undermine or hurt the economy by overtaxation. Why can I say that? Because there's no profit in it. However with all that money coming from transnationals, you better believe there are politicans seeking to earn favor there, and much of the tax cuts or breaks are geared towards trans-nationals - not the business you know and love.

So are conservatives pro business? Yes. But maybe not the business you think or that is much an advantage to you or your family. Cutting taxes to corporations that have massive holdings outside the US does not help America. The money saved does not turn into jobs and does not find it's way back into OUR economy. So when your rep says he's cutting taxes for business or that a tax is 'bad for business', find out WHICH business they mean. Republican voters have gotten way too used to taking a unthinking approach to this issue, chanting 'tax bad!' 'tax cut good for business!' without truly seeking to understand whether the business or economy their representative seeks to support is even THEIRS.

There are a lot of people thanking us for our tax and business policy right now, but most of them don't live in the US.
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