September 26, 2008 08:24 PM UTC

Schaffer's Crisis Solution: Tax Cuts For Exporting Jobs?

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: The DSCC brings it home:

It’s a well-worn tool, but GOP Senate candidate Bob Schaffer says it works great on just about everything, like when all you have is a hammer. Tax cuts as part of the solution to the financial crisis. Sounds fine, we’re already borrowing so many hundreds of billions of dollars that who the hell cares, right?

But tax breaks for companies that offshore American jobs? You might wonder how that’s going to help anybody.

As the Rocky Mountain News reports:

Mark Udall and Bob Schaffer agree that major changes must be made to the proposed economic bailout package, but Colorado’s U.S. Senate candidates differ wildly on what those alterations must be.

Udall, the Democratic congressman from Eldorado Springs, said he can only back legislation that concentrates more on helping average Americans and less on helping big Wall Street firms. He wants to add measures to keep people who are on the brink of foreclosure in their homes and to set a time limit on how long the government will buy bad assets from private companies.

Schaffer, the former Republican congressman from Fort Collins, says a $700 billion package focused only on the government buying risky assets and providing bailout money will drive inflation through the roof. Congress must add economy-stimulating measures such as a reduction in investment taxes and a holiday on the repatriation tax to avoid a complete recession, he said.

Both men agree something must be done, however. Even Schaffer, who is usually in favor of keeping government out of the free market, said that because Congress has made this mess, it has to dig itself out.

Once again, Schaffer responds to a legitimate question with a bizarre and tangential idea that opens up new and much more pointed questions. The Udall campaign jumped all over Schaffer’s suggestion of a “repatriation tax holiday” to keep help solve the economic crisis in a press release (follows).

Says Udall, “Even in the face of all this, Bob Schaffer today said the solution to our problem is a giant tax giveaway for American companies that ship jobs overseas.  It’s stunning, but maybe it shouldn’t be. It’s exactly this kind of thinking that got us into this economic crisis to begin with.”

For Immediate Release

Contact: Tara Trujillo

SEPTEMBER 25, 2008                                                                 303.820.2008 (o)

720.333.3425 (c)

UDALL CHALLENGES “STUNNING” SCHAFFER RESPONSE TO ECONOMIC CRISIS

Schaffer Plan: More Tax Breaks for Companies That Ship Jobs Overseas

Congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall held a press conference call today in response to his opponent Bob Schaffer’s proposal to address the economic crisis by giving a massive tax break to companies that ship American jobs overseas.

“Today we have a seen a defining moment in this Senate race, and a defining contrast between Bob Schaffer and me on the most critical issue facing our country today,” said Udall.  “Our priorities have been made clear, and they could not be more different.”

“For years, folks like Bob Schaffer and the Bush Administration have been telling us that the key to economic success is giving the CEOs whatever they ask for.  But what that’s really meant was no oversight and no accountability.  Because of their policies, and because of the greed, abuse, and bad decisions those policies have allowed on Wall Street, we now face the greatest economic crisis of our generation.

“Even in the face of all this, Bob Schaffer today said the solution to our problem is a giant tax giveaway for American companies that ship jobs overseas.  It’s stunning, but maybe it shouldn’t be.

“It’s exactly this kind of thinking that got us into this economic crisis to begin with.”

In today’s Rocky Mountain News, Schaffer responded to the nation’s economic crisis by calling for a “holiday” on the repatriation tax that is applied to American companies who shift jobs and investment overseas to avoid paying corporate taxes.  Such a holiday would reward off-shoring companies with a windfall worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

“I’ve been working hard to ensure that any response we make to this crisis includes strong accountability, no ‘golden parachutes’ for the corporate executives who got us into this mess, protection for taxpayers, and help for Main Street families and businesses,” Udall added.  “We should be doing right by the people who have been working hard and playing by the rules.

“Bob Schaffer made it clear today that, even in an economic crisis, those aren’t the people he’s looking out for.

“He’s going to keep fighting for the same failed economic policies that put CEOs and corporate special interests ahead of Colorado’s middle-class families and small businesses.  I’m going to keep fighting to make this economy work for all of us again.”

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