PALOMERA, JOSHUA CARL L.

Corporate Taxes - John Oliver

John Oliver took aim at Donald Trump’s recent tax reforms. Taxes are “essentially the
government’s GoFundMe page,” or as Oliver had described. Trump once claimed that his
reforms would benefit workers such as cops and pipe-fitters, essentially all the people that like
Trump the most, and that it would create jobs. The recent reforms also lowered the corporate tax,
however, as Oliver pointed out, most of these corporations have been paying a percentage closer
to the lowered amount for years. Furthermore, it was mentioned that many of the biggest firms
evade tax in the United States of America by moving their assets overseas.

Oliver proposes that these tax reforms have little to no impact, to say the least of evils, and
contradictory and counterproductive at the worst of it.

First, it can should be conceded that Trump’s tax bill does solve the problem wherein companies
evade tax through moving assets overseas. However, the fact that the tax they are being forced to
pay was slashed to less than its half. It is true that the assets stashed overseas can be brought
home through repatriation, however, it seems that the fact that the amount of the tax they are
required seems to be more of a reward than a punishment.

Second, these tax reforms are not the best way to create jobs as the Republicans claim. As Oliver
put it, “anything can theoretically lead to jobs”. Trump’s claim that Apple created 20, 000 new
jobs was the fruit of his reforms, however, it would have happened even without the said tax
reforms as it was consistent with the company’s strategy. In essence, if the main goal of the tax
reforms is to create jobs, there are probably better ways to do it.

Oliver concludes that the US government wasted its opportunity to reform their country’s tax
code. Tax reforms is not about lowering the rates of taxes, it’s about closing loopholes; which the
tax reforms failed to do. Hence, these tax reforms still continue to allow companies to engage in
“sophisticated tax avoidance schemes”.