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Living every day in the American culture, being immersed in it, can make it difficult to determine the effect American actions have on other people.  Is it relevant to consider other people's interests to prevent negative effects on those who are not part of our society?  I would hope so, but this is similar to another question I was asked while in Europe:  Why do Americans think that anything their country does is always "right"?  Before I get into this issue, let me present an example of how some U.S. politicians manipulate Americans.

One of the present political arguments being made in the U.S. is that the European Union (commonly called "Old Europe") is socialist, and any actions taken by the U.S. government that mirrors the way the EU does it is a socialist action, and is therefore "bad" because socialism is bad.  That is the simplistic way that neo-conservatives package their political philosophy.  No questions are asked, no true analysis is done to see if an EU action has value, it is just wrong.

However, one specific point that neo-cons emphasize is that America has a high corporate tax rate, and other Western industrialized nations have a much lower rate.  The result of this is lower job creation in the U.S. compared to other countries.  Note that they do not specifically use the term EU or "Old Europe" when talking about this issue.  If they did, then it would be socialist, and therefore, bad.

In order to be more competitive, and multinational-corporation-friendly, the U.S. should lower their corporate tax rate from the commonly-stated 35% to the 25% rate of other countries, or better yet, the 16% that Canada has.  This is argued as if there were no other requirements on corporations in other countries that differ from those in the U.S., and as if there were no other differences in tax burdens on people.  Look at a few actual examples.

In Germany, it is true that the federal corporate tax rate is about 16%.  However, corporations are also subjected to local taxes from 14% to 17% on top of the federal rate.  The maximum personal income tax rate is 45%, and the VAT (sales tax) is 19%.  Those last two rates are never mentioned by the neo-cons.

Okay, let's look at the UK.  Corporate rate of 20 - 24%, personal income rate of 20% - 50%, and a VAT of 20%.  Ouch!

All right, what about Norway.  They are in Europe but they are not a member state of the EU.  Corporate rate of 28%, personal income rate of 54%, and VAT of 25%.

You get the point.  Every country in Europe is similar to the above examples.  And this doesn't include regulations that result in increased costs for corporations.  In Germany, most large corporations are required to allow employees to elect a percentage of seats on the corporation's supervisory board.  In many EU countries, if a layoff occurs, the unemployed workers are entitled to a living allowance, help in finding work, and alternative training.  In Ireland the unemployed worker can get a rent supplement, mortgage interest supplement, and fuel allowance.  In the Netherlands, the unemployed worker gets 70% of their last wage for 38 months, all paid by the company.

It is irresponsible to argue for a lower U.S. corporate tax rate as if it were a black box, with no other inputs that would affect the true value of such an action.  And if you really want to know the complete truth, most large American corporations--due to loopholes, subsidies, and various government benefits--actually pay less than a 15% effective tax rate.  Some pay no tax at all, and have not for years.