Sanders opposes corporate tax bill

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(Host) Congressional Bernie Sanders says he opposes a new corporate tax cut bill because it will increase the size of the federal deficit, and because it encourages businesses to outsource their jobs to foreign countries. Sanders’ Republican opponent, Greg Parke, says he supports the measure because he feels it will help stimulate economic activity.

VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports:

(Kinzel) The U.S. House gave its approval to this legislation in one of its final votes before adjourning for the November election. The vote on the bill was 280 to 141.

The legislation includes roughly $140 billion in corporate tax cuts over the next ten years. The central part of the proposal lowers the federal tax rate on corporate profits from 35 to 32 percent for a wide variety of businesses.

Backers say the plan will be paid for primarily by closing tax loopholes. Sanders voted against the measure:

(Sanders) “What it will do is increase the deficit. What it will do also, believe it or not, is provide special tax breaks to make it easier for large corporations to outsource American jobs. So at a time when we want to stop outsourcing, get companies to reinvest in America and create decent paying jobs, they’re giving tax breaks to those companies who are going abroad and will make it easier for them to make more money by doing business abroad.”

(Kinzel) Sanders describes the bill as an “absurd special interest piece of legislation”:

(Sanders) “What this bill should be seen as is simply a collage of benefits that go to all kinds of special interests. You’ve got oil drillers, you’ve got cruise ship operators, you’ve got importers of ceiling fans, you’ve got foreign gamblers – foreign gamblers will be benefiting from these tax breaks. But it’s certainly not something that is going to benefit working people in this country.”

(Host) Republican candidate Greg Parke says he would have voted for the legislation because he thinks it will help create a lot of new jobs across the country:

(Parke) “The problem is that Mr. Sanders is more about punishing people that have been successful and vilifying business that creates wealth. And Mr. Sanders cultivates the dark side of humanity. He cultivates the worst in human nature – envy, greed, jealousy, class warfare – for his own political gain.”

(Kinzel) Parke says he’s convinced that revenue gains that result from new jobs will more than pay for the tax cuts that are included in the bill.

For Vermont Public Radio, I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.

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