For instance, I work with some manufacturers. Do you know that they have to account to the EPA for every fluorescent light bulb, ballast, and bottle of Wite Out (maybe obsolete by now, but you get the drift - any "toxic" chemical, no matter how much they use)/
Do you know how NAFTA works (the central letters FT standing for "Free Trade", amusingly enough)? If you product a product here in the US, and ship it to Mexico, it is untaxed under NAFTA. If you buy the product from China and ship it directly to Mexico, you have to pay taxes on it. If you buy it from China and perform a value add process on it (assemble it into something else or modify it) then there are no taxes on it. Got all that?
Of course, you have to account to the government for this once a quarter, and they'll fine you if you're wrong. They sometimes audit for this, so then you've got government bureaucrats in your already over-worked accounting office taking up your accountants' time with this crap.
Want to hear my rant about SOX audits (Sarbanes-Oxley)? No? Come on, it's a good one. Oh, alright, I'll hold off.
What I'm getting at of course is that it's regulations that are killing our manufacturing, not some silly tax policy that our competitors have. We're doing just fine at killing it ourselves, thank you very much.
"What I'm getting at of course is that it's regulations that are killing our manufacturing, not some silly tax policy that our competitors have. We're doing just fine at killing it ourselves, thank you very much."
Your point is well taken about our excessive regulations and their impact on trade. However, it is OUR OWN tax system which is at the core of the problem that Pat Buchanon points out. It is our own legislators operating on our behalf who have crafted a tax system which puts US producers at a disadvantage in the global marketplace. Only those same legislators can address the disparity, not some foreign legislative body. They will only do so when we demand it.