The (Job) Creationism Myth 0

At McClatchy, Scott Klinger takes a look at some of those who have benefited most from Bush’s tax cuts. A nugget.

Then there’s Dave Cote, Honeywell’s CEO. The Bush tax cuts saved him about $2.5 million that he would otherwise have had to pay on his $55 million income last year. Cote is a high-profile crusader for low taxes on corporations and the wealthy. As a member of the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction commission, he supported cuts to Social Security and Medicare while pushing for reductions to his own taxes.

Cote’s insistence that U.S. corporate taxes are too high is ironic, given his own firm’s ability to dodge them. Over the last three years, Honeywell reported $2.5 billion in U.S. pre-tax income and yet got net tax benefits back from the government worth $377 million. It’s also notable that Honeywell is no U.S. “job creator.” The corporation shrunk its U.S. workforce from 58,000 to 53,000 over the last three years, while offshoring 4,000 jobs.

It’s welfare for the rich.