GIVE US TAX CUT, WE GIVE YOU REVENUE

—WaPo: “As Washington politicians grapple with how to lower the federal deficit, a coalition of powerful corporations has a seemingly tantalizing offer: Give us a big tax break, and we’ll give you $50 billion or more in fresh revenue. … More than two dozen major companies and business groups — including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and technology giants Apple, Google and Microsoft — have joined together under the banner of the “Win America Campaign” to push for a one-time tax holiday on overseas profits. … The idea is to encourage U.S.-based corporations to bring back, or “repatriate,” up to $1 trillion now stashed in overseas tax havens by sharply reducing standard corporate income tax rates on that money from 35 percent to perhaps 5 percent. Backers argue that the move would create thousands of jobs and other investments; the lure for politicians is additional tax revenue that the government won’t collect if the money remains abroad. … But opponents, including many labor unions, say the effort is a de facto giveaway for multinational corporations that rewards tax-dodging while having little positive economic impact. They say the same tax-holiday idea was tried in 2004 with little apparent benefit to regular Americans.”

WATER ETHICS INQUIRY GOING NOWHERE

—Politico: “Five months after her ethics trial was postponed and the investigation reopened, the ethics case against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) remains in limbo. … The delay has been caused by turnover among members and staffing problems at the House Ethics Committee, including the failure so far of Reps. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) and Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) — the chairman and ranking Democrat of the secretive panel — to hire a new staff director and chief counsel.”