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President Barack Obama's initiative to increase corporate tax collections by $21bn a year over the next decade was considered newsworthy enough to warrant a reporter only by CBS. ABC and NBC mentioned the plan in passing but CBS treated it as its lead story, from White House correspondent Chip Reid. Reid showed us a single building in the Cayman Islands that houses the global headquarters of "nearly 19,000 corporations" to dramatize the tax haven loopholes Obama wants to close.
Reid reminded us that Obama's plan had been "a major applause line for the President on the campaign trail" even as it is opposed by 200 major corporations, for fear that it will "impair" their global competitiveness. "Business lobbyists are expected to pull out all the stops in an effort to defeat it." He quoted unidentified critics of the plan on Capitol Hill as predicting that these taxes will lead to American-based multinationals being bought out by foreigners. Yet under the current tax code, Anheuser-Busch, Lucent Technologies and John Hancock have already been purchased.
CBS' Anthony Mason also covered foreign firms taking over American assets. Fiat, the Italian automaker, is already planning to buy Chrysler. Next may be the Opel brand from General Motors. Those two additions would turn Fiat into the world's fourth largest automobile manufacturer. "International mergers can be tricky," Mason warned. "Chrysler's previous marriage ended in divorce after Daimler lost billions." If you want to buy a Fiat-made car in this country right now, Mason showed us that your choices are limited--but luxurious. Do you want a Maserati? Or a Ferrari?
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