Restoring taxes to levels closer to historic norms is only the beginning of Biden’s tax plan and it’s set to raise enough for overdue spending across the nation, but what can we expect in response? The rich have been aggressively avoiding taxes for years and a new tax plan is just a new puzzle to solve. AOC brought out a more aggressive tax plan, but clever accountants will be hard at work as soon as the ink dries on anyone’s plan. Can Joe and the Democrats get ahead of the game?
To start on an answer, it’s best to understand multinational corporations don’t have national affiliation like the rest of us. It’s more than simply convenient to keep their headquarters in the United States, and they, like the people that run them, have a tendency to find any loose thread around to pull open a new loophole. And as long as money is considered speech by the courts, it will still be a great investment to pour money on legislators to be sure something rips opens for them again. It might be that without complete and thorough change, all short-term progress can be undone in short order.
Said quickly, is it possible to actually get them back on the team? They’re playing for their own flag, not for ours anymore. And another question, just as important, is if they aren’t on our team, then how should multinationals be treated until they are? During a wave of the coronavirus outbreak, cruise ships that had registered in another nations (for tax purposes) were denied assistance, should these other “ships” that evade tax be turned away too?
There’s other tax plans out there but maybe the bigger question is what to do about people and corporations that are no longer playing the game for the benefit of the nation.