GRAPH: Contrary To GOP Claims, U.S. Has Second Lowest Corporate Taxes In The Developed World

By Marie Diamond/Think Progress

During negotiations regarding raising the nation’s debt limit, congressional Republicans have defended tax loopholes for corporations, claiming that America has a high corporate tax rate that is stifling economic growth and job creation. But the Center for Tax Justice (CTJ) has crunched the most recent data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Office of Management and Budget, and the Census Bureau, and finds that “the U.S. is already one of the least taxed countries for corporations in the developed world.”

As a share of GDP, the U.S. had the second lowest tax rate, behind only Iceland. This statistic flips on its head the often-repeated Republican charge that America has the second highestcorporate tax rate in the world (which is only true on paper). In 2009, U.S. corporate taxes had fallen to only 1.3 percent of GDP, from 4 percent in 1965.

Conservatives love to point out that other OECD countries have lowered their corporate tax rates in recent years, but they conveniently ignore that “these countries have also closed corporate tax loopholes while the U.S. has expanded them.” As CAP Director for Tax and Budget Policy Michael Linden has noted, the U.S. is actually a very low-tax country across the board.

Recently, conservative commentator Bill Kristol chastised his own party for pretending that lowering the corporate tax rate is a cure-all for America’s economic woes. On Fox News Sunday, he interrupted a panelist who again tried to assert the U.S. is suffering from a high corporate tax rate: “Republicans are making a mistake if they focus on big businesses and corporate tax rates. Corporations have a ton of cash. The corporate tax rate is not killing big business in America.”

The GOP presidential candidates have almost uniformly introduced proposals to radically lower the U.S. corporate tax rate. For instance, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) wants toreduce the corporate tax rate to 15 percent and eliminate all taxes on capital gains, dividends, interest income and inheritance. CTJ put the issue succinctly in a tweet this morning: “Dear US Corporations: You pay 2nd LOWEST tax rate in industrial world, so quit whining or move to Iceland.”

Grayson: The GOP is a "lie factory"

By Tony Romm

The now-infamous Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) unleashed another verbal tirade against Republicans on Thursday, calling the party a "lie factory" that hoped only to stall the healthcare debate.

Grayson also dismissed calls that he apologize for his remark earlier this week that Republicans' healthcare plan was to "die quickly" -- an allegation that has since invoked the ire of the entire GOP.

"America is sick of you, Republican Party; you're a lie factory, that's all you do," he told MSNBC on Thursday. "Why don't you work together with the Democrats to solve America's problems instead of making stuff up?"

Grayson then called the party a bunch of "no-mongers," and he chided GOP lawmakers for failing to come up with their own healthcare plan in the 48 hours since he first attacked their strategy.

"The people who should be apologizing are the Republicans, they're the ones who should apologize for dragging us all through the mud here while we're just trying to improve healthcare in America," he said. "That's all we're trying to do."

The GOP has since dismissed Grayson's remarks as partisan hackery, and some party members are now calling for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to sanction the congressman for his comments -- much as Democrats rebuked Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) for interrupting the president during his address to Congress. But Democrats have grumbled at that suggestion, claiming it is little more than a distraction from the more important debates confronting Congress.

Grayson said Thursday he agreed with that perspective, but he also offered some tough words for his own party, which he said needed to work together to overcome Republicans' stall tactics.

"We've got to get past this point where everything is stalled; where the Republicans are winning just through inertia," he said. "We have a majority, we have to use it."