Kerry, Bush outline tax plans

The jobs programs offered by President Bush and Sen. John Kerry both start with a series of tax changes and add reforms in education, health care, energy production and other areas.

Mr. Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat and the presumed Democratic presidential candidate, would broadly restructure the corporate-tax code to remove incentives to move jobs and plants overseas and enhance incentives for creating jobs at home. His proposals would:

• cTax the money American businesses make at subsidiaries overseas producing goods for export at the same tax rate as goods produced in the United States by eliminating the ability of companies to defer paying U.S. taxes on foreign income.

• Enact a one-year tax holiday at 10 percent for corporations that repatriate an estimated $639 billion of profits they are harboring overseas to avoid paying taxes.

• Expand the new jobs tax credit for manufacturers, small businesses and other industries affected by outsourcing, providing a one-time exemption to employers for their share of Social Security taxes.

• Give small businesses a 25 percent tax credit for employee health care expenses.

• Cut tax rates for all corporations by 5 percent to 33.25 percent.

Mr. Kerry says his corporate tax cuts would be financed by closing $12 billion worth of corporate offshoring loopholes, including a provision that allows companies to set up headquarters in overseas tax havens.

Other proposals Mr. Kerry is championing would boost basic education and research, take a stronger stance on trade and wean the United States off its dependence on oil and other fossil fuels. The nontax proposals would:

• Bar government contracts to companies that move jobs offshore or engage in accounting fraud.

• Spur growth in industries such as nanotechnology and broadband, with the goal of connecting every American family to the Internet.

• Lower health care costs by helping businesses pay for catastrophic care cases, with more detailed proposals to come.

• Increase education and training of children and workers to suit job needs, with renewed emphasis on math and science achievement.

• Increase funding for the National Science Foundation and other government research programs.

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