Gary Johnson on Corporations Libertarian presidential nominee; former Republican NM Governor

Zero corporate tax would create tens of millions of jobs

JOHNSON: Well, as president of the United States, count on me to sign on tax policy that would reduce or simplify taxes in this country. But if I could wave a magic wand, I would eliminate income tax, I would eliminate corporate tax, I would abolish the IRS, and I would replace it all with one federal consumption tax. If we have zero corporate tax in this country, I believe that tens of millions of jobs will get created in this country for no other reason--why you would start up, grow a business anywhere but the United States, given a zero corporate tax rate? And what do you replace all that with? Like I say, you replace it with one federal consumption tax. I suggest that everybody look at the FairTax as a way to dot the i's and cross the t's on how you would accomplish one federal consumption tax. Whether it's the exact percentages or exactly the way that the FairTax proposal does that, but it is laid out very specifically.

Eliminate double taxation embodied in business income taxes

Many leading economists have long advocated such a shift in the way we are taxed, and Gary Johnson believes the time has come to eliminate the punishing tax code we have today and replace it with a system that rewards productivity, investment & savings. The IRS as we know it today would no longer be necessary, and Americans would no longer need to live in fear of the force of government being wielded under the guise of tax collection.

Built Big J Enterprises into leading construction company

By the time I sold the company in 1999, it was one of New Mexico's leading construction companies, grossing $20 million a year. We had grown from a door-to-door business to a multi-million dollar corporation, ranked as high as #34 on the New Mexico Private 100 companies list.

When I sold the business, I made enough money that I wouldn't have to work ever again. I'd earned true freedom

Visited Occupy Wall Street; we need radical surgery

Meanwhile, the federal government is spending us deeper and deeper into debt while we shell out billions in foreign aid we can no longer afford and trillions more for foreign wars in which our national interest is just not apparent to me.

Republicans and Democrats have both failed to respond to this reality. In order to create jobs now, we need radical surgery, not a haircut.

Started a one-man handyman business; grew it to 1,000 people

A: I bring a unique perspective to this stage. I started a one-man handyman business in Albuquerque in 1974 and grew it to over 1,000 employees. I have run for two political offices in my life: governor of New Mexico and reelection. I promise to submit a balanced budget to congress in the year 2013. I promise to veto legislation where expenditures exceed revenue.

Eliminate corporate income tax as real way to create jobs

A: I'm the only candidate that is talking about a balanced budget in the year 2013 and eliminating a corporate income tax as the real way to create jobs.

Q: Why's that?

A: Everyone else is parsing it in terms of lowering the corporate income tax. Eliminate it. It's not that big of a generator of income, and it's a double tax. Get rid of it and you would have an explosion of hiring. As a corporation, why wouldn't you base your business in the United States--and the jobs that went along with that--with no corporate tax? The advantage to not taxing corporations would be an advantage to all of us.

Q: But the biggest advantage would go to the best off. It would be much cheaper for corporations to pay out to shareholders.

A: Exactly. That income would get distributed to shareholders, at which point it would get taxed.

Lower the tax burden; eliminate corporate tax

1. Cut Spending: We must restrain spending across the board.
2. Cut Taxes: The US tax system imposes an enormous toll on productivity through high marginal rates, absurd complexity, loopholes for the well-connected, and incentives for wasteful decisions. The government must lower the tax burden to stimulate the economy.
   • Eliminate punitive taxation of savings and investment.
   • Simplify the tax code; stop using it to reward special interests and control behavior.
   • Eliminate the corporate income tax so that America will once again be a great place to start a business.
3. Reduce Federal Involvement in the Economy.