Government will stay open, at least until December 11.
The Senate and House passed fuding to keep the government open through December 11. After that is anyone's guess. This brief will keep you up to date on this and other tax news!
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, second from left, talks with Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., right, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin of Ill., left, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015, before a news conference to discuss criminal justice reform.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP/File
On the Hill鈥μ�罢丑别听听and House passed funding bills to听听through December 11, with just the usual minutes to spare. Now that that鈥檚 taken care of, the Senate Finance Committee holds a听听on improper payments in federal programs. Comptroller General of the United States Gene Dodaro will testify.
Deficit, Schmeficit.听Every GOP presidential candidate seems to be backing听, even if they add between $3.6-$12 trillion to the deficit. What happened? Oren Cass, Mitt Romney鈥檚 domestic policy adviser during the 2012 campaign, said 鈥淭here's nothing to be gained from being responsible鈥� You may as well do the plan that your base is going to love.鈥� The Tax Foundation鈥檚 Kyle Pomerlau says of the candidates, 鈥淭hey're saying 'let's cut taxes for everyone so we're not accused of raising taxes for [anyone].鈥欌��
鈥淚 just want to say two words to you: Data centers.鈥澨�They鈥檙e the brains of the internet, and states have been offering听听for the past decade, to the tune of about $1.5 billion.听The Associated Press听reports that the actual cost might be higher, as some states won鈥檛 disclose the amount of waived taxes. Cities and counties often forgive millions of dollars in local taxes, too. Data centers cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build, but employ few people.
Illinois GOP Governor Bruce Rauner wants ConAgra.听The packaged food company calls Nebraska its home, but plans to lease enough office space in Chicago for 1,000 workers. The Illinois governor met with the company early in 2015 to offer an unspecified amount of听听to move to Illinois. Since then, Rauner has put a moratorium on such tax deals until the state鈥檚 budget impasse is solved.
In Denmark, tax breaks for electric cars are too costly.听Denmark鈥檚 new government is no longer interested in meeting ambitious CO2 emissions targets or听 becoming听 fossil-fuel free by 2050. Why?听. The three-month-old government expects to raise just under 30 billion kroner on car taxes in 2016. It estimates that if electric cars are taxed like gas-powered vehicles, Denmark will gain 450 million kroner a year in revenue. The price of a Tesla will nearly triple. Meanwhile, the Danes would eliminate pollution taxes on diesel cars.
In Italy, it鈥檚 not so easy to tax Google.听Or any other multinational internet firm. Italy鈥檚 Treasury Undersecretary Enrico Zanetti says a tax on such firms鈥� profits earned in Italy could raise up to 3 billion euros ($3.36 billion). In 2014,听听of 19.3 percent on its global earnings. The average corporate tax rate on earnings in Italy is 65.8 percent but European Union tax law does not require a company to pay a country鈥檚 tax when there is no "permanent establishment鈥� in that country.
Interested in subscribing to the Daily Deduction, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center summary of the day鈥檚 tax news?听听to get the Daily Deduction delivered to your inbox every morning. If you鈥檇 like to tell us about a new research paper or have any comments about our feature, write us at dailydeduction 鈥渁t鈥�听taxpolicycenter 鈥渄ot鈥�听org.
The post听听appeared first on听.