Bah ha ha You Got a Pay Cut!

Never fret! The house is going to pass another jobs bill!

We can blame the cheap labor all we want but a lot of these jobs are leaving because America has the highest corporate tax rate in the world.

The problem with this statement is that it's highly subjective as the tax laws in most countries are extremely complex, with tax burdens falling differently on different groups in each country and sub-national unit. It's generally been recognized for about the past 20 years that America has the 2nd highest combined corporate tax rate of all OECD nations. Currently, Japan 'enjoys' the highest level of combined taxation of its corporations at about 39.54%. Thing is, that's on paper. The actual, effective corporate tax rate that most corporations pay in the US is typically much lower thanks to the numerous, and often quite generous, tax breaks/subsidies that they've enjoyed for quite awhile now. That corporate welfare costs you and I over 92 billion dollars a year. Relative to GDP, the amount of tax revenues the US collects from its corporations is at a 60 year low and amounts to only about 2% of GDP. Of all OECD nation members, the US collects the 4th lowest amount of tax revenues from its corporations.

By way of comparison, the Slovak Republic collects more tax revenues from its corporations relative to its GDP than the US does from its GDP. Simply lowering the corporate tax rate in the US probably wouldn't do much to keep jobs here. Wage structures, cost of benefits, etc. continue to make manufacturing overseas a cheaper proposition - at least on paper (the hidden, warranty costs of rework and quality problems are typically overlooked by CEO's and Wallstreet). Even higher skilled jobs like engineering are being offshored now. It's a trend that will ultimately make a us a second rate power in the world.