Todd Rapp is a self-described life-long Democrat activist. He is also now a business owner (Himle Horner, a public affairs company). And he has called for the elimination of the corporate income tax here in Minnesota– no less on the front page of the StarTribune on Sunday, February 7th. He is thinking out of the box and he wants the rest of us–especially elected officials– to do the same thing.
Rapp’s argument is simple: the corporate income tax is not paid by business owners. Instead it is passed on to Minnesota’s consumers. To compound the insult, it is very regressive in nature, burdening lower income Minnesotans more. He also points out that it is a very “volatile” source of income compared to other taxes, such as individual income and sales taxes. This volatilty leads to budgeting woes and errors. Even more interesting, is that Rapp acknowledges that the elimination of this tax would create jobs and encourage investment. How can we compete with other states for good employers when we punish them for doing business in Minnesota? Rapp goes on to acknowledge the political challenges this poses for “tax the rich” Democrats (”a gift to big business”) and “no new taxes” Republicans (”this will create a hole in the state’s budget” ).
We have made all these arguments here before about the corporate tax; we are encouraged and delighted to be joined by Mr. Rapp. We look forward to hearing more from him. You can read his article in full at: http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/83673327.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:Ug8P:Pc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr
