The Russians get it. As I’ve noted in previous posts, even Vladimir Putin wants to slash Russia’s corporate tax rate and Moscow economists advocate the policies of Adam Smith.
Now Captain Ed at HotAir notes that the Chinese are showing more capitalist street cred than we are by cutting business taxes. From the Straits Times:
CHINA may soon cut business tax as part of its efforts to prop up the slowing economy amid the global financial crisis, state media reported on Tuesday.
The government is ‘very likely’ to soon cut the business tax for enterprises by one percentage point, the China Daily said, citing an unnamed source close to policymakers.China’s current business tax varies from three to 20 per cent, boosting government revenue by 600 billion yuan (S$131 billion) last year, according to the paper.
The news follows other state press reports last week that Beijing was planning to cut business tax for commercial banks – possibly to three percent from the current five percent, to help improve their capital adequacy.
Beijing has launched a number of tax measures aimed at maintaining growth as the global meltdown’s impact on the Chinese economy becomes increasingly pronounced.
It has increased export tax rebates on various items from textile to steel products and has announced plans to lower export tariffs on agricultural goods by up to 30 per cent.
Top leaders meeting now in Beijing at an annual policy-setting conference will discuss raising the minimum taxable personal income threshold to 3,000 yuan per month from the current 2,000 yuan, the China Daily said.
But as Ed points out, Hope ‘n Change wants to raise taxes on entrepreneurial effort while the geniuses in Congress are busy turning the domestic auto industry into a ward of the state. Sorta like British Leyland in the 1970s.
