Hillary Clinton may be open to pursuing business tax reform that would lower the corporate tax rate as president, a campaign adviser suggested Thursday, but she isn’t talking specifics now.
“Perhaps she’s not showing her hand on exactly where she would be” in negotiations with Congress on business tax reform, campaign adviser Gene Sperling said at an event in Washington.
The Democratic candidate has not endorsed lowering the U.S. corporate tax rate, as President Obama and some congressional Democrats favor. Instead, she has proposed raising $275 billion over a decade through unspecified tax reforms to spend on infrastructure projects.
Asked specifically if Clinton would back an effort to lower the 35 percent statutory tax rate on corporate income, the highest among advanced economies, Sperling demurred.
“I don’t know I have a lot to add to that,” he said, pointing to the principles that Clinton has laid out for business taxes.
Although she hasn’t endorsed a broad reform plan, Clinton has proposed several specific business tax measures tied to specific goals, such as keeping companies’ headquarters in the U.S. and preventing corporations from lowering their U.S. tax bills.
“She is trying to make sure that we are not indifferent to whether you locate a factory overseas or in the United States,” Sperling said.
Nevertheless, when it comes to a potential tax rate cut plan, “if it meets those principles, you’re going to be for it,” he added.
Sperling was a top economic adviser to Obama and also served in President Bill Clinton’s administration.
Obama has proposed lowering the corporate tax rate to 28 percent, with a 25 percent rate for manufacturing. He failed to find an agreement with congressional Republicans on a tax overhaul, however.
House Speaker Paul Ryan and congressional Republicans in June proposed lowering the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, overhauling the way corporate taxes are collected, and eliminating many tax breaks for businesses.
Sperling spoke Thursday at an event hosted by the Tax Policy Center, a nonprofit think tank in Washington.
