Corporate Tax Rate Drops 18%

In 2018 Corporate Tax Changed to a Flat 21%

How soon we forget... In 2018 corporate income tax brackets went away and the top rate of 39% became a flat 21%. This monumental shift was not celebrated by anyone. It may have been one of the greatest accomplishments of Donald Trump.

When I was born the geniuses in Washington felt that 50% was the proper corporate tax rate. I think you know I believe it should be zero because corporations don't actually pay tax... Their customers do and for the most part that is us. Meaning corporate taxation is yet another hidden tax on the American people.

The Constitution prohibited income taxes. But the 16th Amendment changed that... If you did deep you will see this was the byproduct of the first progressive movement. 😡

Corporate tax rates started out at 1%. They consistently went up every few years. It then became graduated and complicated. Each major war increased the tax rate. We even had a 10% Vietnam War surcharge levied.

Then in 2018 the seemingly impossible happened. The Trump Administration pushed hard and the corporate income tax rates became a flat 21%... Go TRUMP 👍 aka Orange Man Bad? Sorry big guy no parade for you... Not yet Sir.

Seriously, how do we not remember this. Who in the past thought 50% of all corporate profits should go to the Federal government? Who doesn't understand that corporations don't pay tax? That the people buying the products and services are in reality paying the tax... Duh?

How this is not one of the greatest Trump accomplishments is beyond me and yet the right knows it's a losing talking point and the Left... They know saying they want to raise taxes will also lose them votes. 

The result? No one remembers the greatest shift in corporate taxation since the passage of the 16th Amendment. 

PS The flat 21% corporate taxes rate was and is an epic shift in America. This move combined with a few other strap the American Stock Market on the back of a rocketship. Did new found prosperity usher in a Communist leader for New York City? Maybe but is it really that big of a deal? Well if you count New York City's entire population (estimating  the illegal population) it would rank as the 13th most populated state.

Corporate Tax Rates 60 years ago

Trump Tariffs and Thomas Sowell

Tariffs are tough for conservatives to agree with and adopt. Historically and economically tariffs are obviously bad. Thomas Sowell is my hero and I align with his economics. His exceedingly well thought out approach based on real life circumstances is hard to argue against.

I don't wonder what he would say about reciprocal tariffs... I've read a few of his books and Thomas Sowell's stance on reciprocal tariffs and macro economics is clear:

Google - Thomas Sowell views tariffs, especially broad or "reciprocal" ones, as economically damaging, repeating the mistakes of the 1920s that worsened the Great Depression, causing job losses and reduced trade through retaliatory wars; he sees them as inefficient tools that benefit specific industries at the expense of consumers and overall economic health, leading to uncertainty and hindering market function. His stance aligns with free-market principles, emphasizing that such protectionism creates artificial costs, destroys more jobs than it creates, and ultimately harms national economies by disrupting global trade and supply chains. 

Grok - Regarding “reciprocal” or “fairness” arguments (e.g., “if they tariff us, we should tariff them”), Sowell considers this economically illiterate. He often uses the analogy: “If another country puts rocks in their own harbor, is the wise response to put rocks in our harbor too?” Unilateral free trade benefits your own country regardless of what others do.

ChatGPT - Thomas Sowell has written extensively on trade, tariffs, and macroeconomics over several decades. His stance is consistent, clear, and grounded in classical economic principles. Tariffs hurt your own citizens, not foreign governments

Sowell argues that tariffs are essentially taxes on domestic consumers, raising prices for goods at home. Imposing tariffs “in retaliation” simply doubles the harm by raising prices on imports for your own consumers

Beemer - My view is slightly different. Should the US have any Tariffs? Obviously yes but a true like Thomas Sowell would say no.

If country "X" can produce steel at half the cost of the US then we buy their steel. Shutting down our steel plants will free up labor to do other things. Labor is the true limiting factor to production. 

However, this pure economic view while absolutely true during normal circumstances completely fails during conflict, pandemics, zombie apocalypse, etc... 

So... Trump was clear if a country had no tariffs on the US we would have no tariffs on them making Thomas Sowell very happy. If they had "normal" Tariffs on the US then Trump wants to keep our tariffs around 10%. 

The higher or crazy high tariffs are specifically designed to break down historical tariffs of other countries. Shining a light on insane post WWII tariff structures that are still in place to encourage the recovery of Japan makes sense. 

Lastly, there have been some important people talking about eliminating the income tax. I know that seems insane. Consider this... 7 states do not have an income tax and most of them are flourishing. A great example of what not to do is Connecticut. They didn't have an income tax and decided to add one to raise more money in 1991. It took 30 years for people to vote with their feet. The tax worked until it didn't... last year I believe was the 1st year their state revenue dropped below pre income tax levels. Without international (illegals) migration Connecticut's population would have continued to decline relative to the United States.

My point... Tariffs are a tax on the consumer. A tax on all consumers. If it's managed correctly it theoretically could replace the income tax. 

If you eliminate the income tax or just the corporate income tax (which is also a tax on the consumer) the economic boom would be massive and sustainable. If our government could find a way to fund itself and eliminate all income taxes as originally spelled out in the Constitution the positive impact would be incomprehensible. 

I worked for almost two decades to repeal the 16th Amendment (while you're at it toss in repealing the 17th) which would end the individual income tax. America would immediately become the economic shining light on the hill and maintain itself as world's largest economy. 

Greatest Practical Economist - Thomas Sowell 

Jan 6th Pipe Bomber Conspiracy

Did the FBI Cover Up the Jan 6th Pipe Bomber?

Last week the accused Jan 6th pipe bomber was interviewed for four hours and it's been reported by NBC that he confessed to the placing bombs at the DNC and RNC national headquarters on the evening of January 5th, 2021. The narrative that Brian Cole, Jr. was unhappy with the 2020 election results and believed the election was stolen is yet another false flag stoked by a Left leaning complacent media. This narrative is easily proven false because Mr. Cole was buying parts for his bombs before the "stolen" election. 

So what's the conspiracy?

Many of the Right believed the FBI didn't want to find the pipe bomber. Some went so far as to accuse the FBI or other three letter agencies of planting the bombs themselves. I'm so happy that this conspiracy theory proved false. True, we don't know if anyone convinced Brian to plant these bombs but it's very unlikely the FBI or another three letter agency is involved.

One outstanding question remains: Compared to hundreds of Jan 6th trespassing cases these two "viable" pipe bombs discovered at the RNC and DNC headquarters, with the Vice President elect being just feet away for one, seem much more important. Why did the FBI fail to track down the bomber sooner? The Biden administration had four years to figure this out but they didn't. The Trump FBI took just nine months (Cash Patel was sworn in February 21st, 2025) to make an arrest. I think it's safe to say Congress needs to find out what went right and what went wrong. I can't wait to hear Mr. Christopher Wray testify again.