Obama’s Tax Plan Draws Stiff Opposition

In a story earlier this month from Bloomberg News, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer came out strongly opposed to a new corporate tax plan President Obama proposed.  

For many leading American firms who do business overseas, Obama’s plan to eliminate the deferral of taxes on foreign profits could increase costs and cut into profits by as much as 10 to 15 percentage points.  Bloomberg reported:

…Ballmer, Symantec Chairman John Thompson and the heads of smaller companies such as privately held Bentley Systems, an Exton, Pa.-based maker of engineering software, said such policies would hurt domestic investment, reduce shareholder value and increase the cost of employing U.S. workers.

Ballmer said the deduction limits for companies that defer tax on foreign profits would raise the cost of employing U.S. workers. Fiduciary responsibility to shareholders would require Microsoft to cut costs, he said, meaning many jobs would be moved out of the country.

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Questionable Pork or Stimulus Progress?

KOMO 4 reports: “Senator Cries Pork Over State’s Stimulus $$$.” 

KING 5’s Glenn Farley also covered the story.

If you think Coburn was picking on Washington State, read his report: “List of 100 Questionable ‘Stimulus’ Projects.” Oregon projects also made the crosshairs: #82 – $4.2 million to raise train tracks 18 inches; and #83 – $1 million for bike lockers.

According to Senator Coburn’s Twitter profile, one of his top priorities is stopping “wasteful Washington spending.”  As noted in the two TV broadcast reports above, local officials were quick to defend the spending.

We’ve put in a request for comment from Senator Coburn to see if, in light of the reports above, he still believes the projects are questionable.

What do you think of the projects? Are they wasteful, and should they have been included in the stimulus spending?  Respond in the comments, and we’ll post your thoughts in a future editorial.