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Rudy Giuliani on Corporations

Former Mayor of New York City; Republican Candidate for 2000 Senate (NY)

 


Reduce corporate tax from 35% to 25%, to increase revenue

Right now we should reduce the corporate tax. We should reduce it from 35 percent to 25 percent. It would be a major boost in revenues for the government. Most importantly, it would be a way of dealing with our fiscal policy in the same way that the Fed is dealing with our monetary policy to create more liquidity.

There are other taxes we should get rid of. We should get rid of death tax and a whole group of others, but the first one should be the corporate tax.

Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican debate , Dec 12, 2007

FactCheck: Corporate tax cut would reduce revenue by half

Giuliani repeated a fantastic claim that a big tax cut would produce more revenue, not less, saying: “We should reduce the corporate tax from 35% to 25%. It would be a major boost in revenues for the government.”

He’s certainly not the only Republican politician to state this view. But you won’t find many economists, Democrat or Republican, who subscribe to it. George H.W. Bush famously called this view “voodoo economics” while campaigning for the Republican nomination in 1980.

Economists agree that lower taxes tend to produce higher economic growth, which does produce additional tax revenue--but not enough to pay for what’s lost. The former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under George W. Bush, published a paper last year in which he calculated that over a number of years, capital gains tax cuts generate enough growth to pay for maybe half of the lost revenue. Cuts in taxes on wages would bring enough revenue to pay for about 17% of revenue lost.

Source: FactCheck on 2007 Des Moines Register Republican debate , Dec 12, 2007

Will not sever consulting firm ties unless legally required

Q: You’re still receiving money from your consulting firm, Giuliani Partners.

A: But I’m not involved in the day-to-day operations. I’m an owner of the firm.

Q: But people could sign up for your company in order to influence you if you became President. Why not just sever ties & put out a list of all your clients?

A: I couldn’t do that. There are confidentiality agreements that surround the relationship that businesses have with law firms & security firms. I can tell you that every client o GP of any significance while I was involved in the day-to-day operations has been discussed, and the reality is that none of them amount to anything other than ethical, lawful, decent work. And none of them involve any kind of conflict of any kind.

Q: So you won’t sever your financial ties with your company>

A: I’ve severed every tie I can think of. I’ll live up to whatever ethical or legal obligations required. But I’m not going to do more than what is absolutely required.

Source: Meet the Press: 2007 “Meet the Candidates” series , Dec 9, 2007

Business goes abroad when we overregulate and overtax

Q: Is London going to replace New York as the financial capital of the world?

A: No how, no way. It’s not going to happen. Give me a break. Of course, London’s not going to replace New York.

Q: Well, the number of IPOs is higher in London in 2007 than in New York.

A: This is the strongest economy on earth. If this generation can’t keep it that way, shame on us. What country do millions of people want to come to--the United States. China and India are trying to develop themselves to be like us, which is why we’ve got a heck of a lot we can sell to them

Q: So how do you explain the loss of business in New York going to London?

A: I explain it based on some of the mistakes that we make when we overregulate and we overtax. Our corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world. Everybody around the world wants to lower corporate tax rates but the leading Democratic candidates, who want to raise taxes 25% or 30%. That would be a disaster for this country.

Source: 2007 Republican debate in Dearborn, Michigan , Oct 9, 2007

Low corporate tax rates encourage business locating in US

Q: What’s the logic behind cutting corporate taxes?

A: Suppose you’re planning now where to put your business, in the United States or in France [where corporate taxes are low], and you’ve got a presidential race going on in the US and one side that could win that race is saying, “We are going to raise taxes by $3 trillion”--which is what the ultimate number would be--or they look at rates more, “We’re going to raise the rate from 35% to 39.6%” or, “We’re going to raise capital gains from 15% to 20%,“ or one of them says from 15% to 28% & he’s reading [French President Nicolas] Sarkozy’s book, Testimony, and he hears Sarkozy saying, ”I’m going to reduce rates.“ Sarkozy wants to reduce the corporate rate even though it’s already lower than the US Only Japan has a higher one. So if you’re making choices like that now and it takes you 2 or 3 years to build your factory or it takes 2 or 3 years to build your office building, I have to imagine if we’re not losing business already, we’re starting to.

Source: Interview in US News & World Report, “Homeowner Bailout” , Aug 27, 2007

1990s: NYC paid millions in “corporate retention deals”

Giuliani dismissed the question as “silly.” The mayor failed to mention that six years earlier, Bear Stearns had threatened to move its operation to New Jersey, [resulting in] $37 million in tax abatements.

The outcome was typical of the Giuliani years In August 1997, Giuiani announced that Bear-Stearns & Company would build a new NYC headquarters [in a deal including] $75 million in tax breaks. Asked whether the city approved the tax breaks after Bear-Stearns had threatened to abandon Manhattan, The package marked the administration’s 33rd so-called corporate retention deal.

Giuliani occasionally criticized these kind of deals as giveaways in his 1993 campaign for mayor. But he quickly embraced the tactics once he got into office. Corporate New York got the message. Almost routinely, whenever a large company’s lease for office space was due to expire, it hired real estate brokers to ride out to Jersey City and solicit a proposal from a major developer. Then came handout time.

Source: America‘s Mayor, America‘s President?, p. 79-80 , May 2, 2007

Formed corporate consulting firm, Giuliani Partners

Rudolph Giuliani and Ernst & Young LLP, a global leader in professional services, jointly announced that they have established an alliance to offer consulting services and to make and manage investments. Giuliani Partners will focus on helping Chief Executive Officers and Boards of Directors secure the future of their firms by advising them on the protection of their companies’ financial and physical assets, knowledge, people and brand.

Giuliani and his team of senior executives, many of whom served with him during his eight-year tenure as Mayor, will draw upon their experiences in emergency preparedness, public safety, leadership during crises, and financial management--all of which were instrumental in turning around a City described as unmanageable & ungovernable to a City that is now a worldwide example of good government & effective management. This management expertise will provide clients with a comprehensive set of solutions addressing critical concerns of major corporations today

Source: Press release from Giuliani Partners , Jan 15, 2002

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Other big-city mayors on Corporations: Rudy Giuliani on other issues:

Tom Barrett (D,Milwaukee)
Bill de Blasio (D,NYC)
Rahm Emanuel (D,Chicago)
Bob Filner (D,San Diego)
Steven Fulop (D,Jersey City)
Eric Garcetti (D,Los Angeles)
Mike Rawlings (D,Dallas)
Marty Walsh (D,Boston)

Former Mayors:
Rocky Anderson (I,Salt Lake City)
Tom Barrett (D,Milwaukee,WI)
Mike Bloomberg (I,New York City)
Cory Booker (D,Newark,NJ)
Jerry Brown (D,Oakland,CA)
Julian Castro (D,San Antonio,TX)
Rudy Giuliani (R,New York City)
Phil Gordon (D,Phoenix)
Tom Menino (D,Boston)
Dennis Kucinch (D,Cleveland,OH)
Michael Nutter (D,Philadelphia)
Sarah Palin (R,Wasilla,AK)
Annise Parker (D,Houston)
Jerry Sanders (R,San Diego)
Antonio Villaraigosa (D,Los Angeles)
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Page last updated: Mar 26, 2021