On Tuesday's CNN Newsroom, Carol Costello refreshingly complimented Burger King's planned merger with Canadian restaurant chain Tim Hortons as a "very smart business move" that will "save the company money." Costello turned to CNN correspondent Christine Romans, who spotlighted how "corporate taxes are lower in Canada than they are in the U.S.," and that "the stock is up because everyone on Wall Street...thinks this is going to lower the tax bill for Burger King."
The anchor also brought on Curtis Dubay of the conservative Heritage Foundation, who underlined that "our tax code makes it uncompetitive around the world. And so, they're doing something to get out from under that burden. They're doing what's right for their shareholders and their owners....What has to be done is the tax code has to be reformed. We have to have corporate tax reform." This prompted Costello to lament that Congress probably won't do anything to reform the tax code: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]
Curtis Dubay
During the past week, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz had trouble acknowledging that allowing a tax cut to expire, in effect, is a tax increase, as he debated on the Ed Show the issue of whether the tax cuts passed during the Bush administration – due to expire at the end of this year – should be extended beyond 2010. On Tuesday’s show, even while noting that the top marginal rates would increase from 35 to 39 percent, Schultz absurdly claimed: "The bottom line is they want you to believe that letting the Bush tax cuts expire is a tax increase. ... The Republicans are saying that, hey, this is all about a tax increase. No, it`s not. It`s the law they put into effect. It`s the law that they signed. It`s the law that they pushed under President Bush. It had an expiration date. Now they’re coming back saying, well, it`s a tax increase. No, it`s not. People in the top two percent are going to go from 35 percent to 39 percent. Ninety-eight percent of Americans are not going to be affected."
The MSNBC host also insisted on the semantics of calling an extension of the tax cuts "cutting taxes," even though such an extension would, in effect, leave rates the same and merely stop rates from increasing in 2011. Schultz went on to deceptively claim that the Heritage Foundation’s Curtis Dubay, appearing as a guest on Tuesday, had agreed with him that "cutting taxes" does not create jobs. On Wednesday’s show, during a discussion of financial reform, after guest Stephen Sprueill of the National Review spoke in favor of extending the Bush tax cuts, Schultz misleadingly shot back: "No, it doesn`t work. And it`s not a job creator, and the Heritage Foundation guy was here last night admitting that cutting taxes is not a job creator."