Corporate Tax Cuts Don’t Create Jobs, Enrich Billionaires: Robert Reich

Former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich has slammed Donald Trump and GOP leaders for claiming that corporate tax cuts favor the economy.

Debunked were that GOP assertions that tax increases on corporations, and regulations requiring corporations to better protect the health and safety of their consumers and workers and the environment, are “job killers.”

“I’m tired of hearing Republicans claim that we should reduce taxes on corporations because corporate tax cuts create jobs. It’s untrue,” he wrote in his July 21, 2024 commentary for Raw Story.

Also untrue are the repeated GOP assertions that tax increases on corporations, and regulations requiring corporations to better protect the health and safety of their consumers and workers and the environment, are “job killers.”

Reich said, “Most American jobs are created by poor, working, and middle-class people whose increased spending on goods and services causes businesses to create more jobs. If most Americans don’t have enough purchasing power to buy the stuff businesses produce, businesses will lay workers off. If they have more purchasing power, businesses will add jobs.”

Reich referenced historical instances to support his argument, such as when Ford boosted its workers’ wages in 1914, leading to increased demand for Model T Fords and creating more jobs.

He also pointed out that the Great Depression of the 1930s ended only with vast public spending on World War II.

“So, when you hear that corporations need tax cuts in order to create more jobs, or that tax increases on corporations or regulations on corporations are job killers, know that this is baloney. The best way to create more jobs is to put more money into the pockets of more workers," he stressed.

This, he concluded, "is why we need a higher minimum wage, an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, and stronger unions that can bargain for higher wages. All these will increase demand for the goods and services businesses produce, thereby creating more jobs. Remember, it’s working people who create jobs when they have enough money in their pockets to buy."