GOP senator: No corporate tax hikes because 'we can't put laws on private companies'

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) argued on Tuesday that taxes on corporations cannot be increased because “we can’t put laws on private companies.” Increasing the corporate tax rate to fund social services, Tuberville said, would also cause companies to leave the United States.

Tuberville made his comments during an appearance on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria” to promote his Prohibiting TSP Investment in China Act, which would prohibit the federal Thrift Savings Plan pension fund from investing “in any security of an entity based in China or in a subsidiary that is owned or operated by a Chinese company,” as he said in an opinion piece published by the Wall Street Journal on May 17.

While arguing that “something has to be done” about the investments, Tuberville said, “The one thing that can’t be done is we can’t raise the corporate income tax.”

“We raise that, surely, we’re going to lose them to other countries, not just China,” he added.

The Biden administration has proposed an increase in corporate taxes to pay for infrastructure and jobs.

Tuberville said, “We can’t tax them to death, because if we do they’re going to leave.”

“We can’t put laws on private companies,” he noted, before continuing to discuss his proposed law regulating investments in private companies.

From the May 18 edition of Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria”:

TOMMY TUBERVILLE: Now private companies, something has to be done with that, but the one thing that can’t be done is we can’t raise the corporate income tax. We raise that, surely, we’re going to lose them to other countries, not just China.

 

But we’ve got to take care of our own companies in the United States. We’ve got to keep their headquarters here, we can’t use the inversion process, we’ve got to keep them here, we’ve got to make sure we take care of them, but we can’t tax them to death, because if we do they’re going to leave. And you can’t blame them.

 

But we can’t put laws on private companies. We just need to let them understand what they’re doing, how it’s going to affect them in the future. The bottom line today might not be the bottom line tomorrow in some of these corporations if we continue to invest in China.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.