Biden finally managed to do something: he convinced much of the world to sign onto a 15% minimum corporate tax.
The purpose is to allow Democrats to raise taxes on U.S. corporations without fear that they will bolt for friendlier havens.
I'm not sure that will keep companies from leaving, if the tax hike is high enough; and the major challenge to the U.S. economy is not that corporations aren't paying their "fair share," as Biden likes to say (though he himself avoided $500,000 in taxes by filing as an S-corp rather than an individual), but rather that we are killing our own economic potential with red-green statist policies.
Moreover, Congress will have to raise current U.S. taxes on corporate profits abroad from 10.5% to 15% to comply with the new international agreement.
Regardless, this is a diplomatic achievement for the Biden administration, however dubious. Biden (and Treasury secretary Janet Yellen) set a policy and pursued it, bringing the rest of the world along. Some of the work had been done by previous (Democratic) administrations, but he still gets the credit.
So... well done? I like the idea of 15% taxes: it should not just be a minimum, but a maximum. We should set a 15% flat tax and get rid of most of the IRS. We might raise more revenue; we'd certainly have more economic growth. And we'd have a broader tax base: more Americans would take an interest in how tax dollars are spent (or misspent), and politicians would not be able to get away with profligate spending quite as easily as they do, and expect to keep doing.
My wife, who is an economist, points out that it does not matter how many countries signed onto the 15% minimum tax: all you need is one to offer less, and corporations will go there.
This week'd portion begins the book of Numbers. Interestingly, the Hebrew name for the book is "In the Desert," not "Numbers." The portion, which happens to be my bar mitzvah portion, focuses almost as much on the names of the princes of each tribe as the number of soldiers it fielded. It also focuses on the configuration of the tribal camps around the central Tabernacle and the Levites.
So why "Numbers" instead of "Names" or "Places"? The numbers are, to be sure, a unique feature of the opening of this Biblical book -- but they are not the focus of the rest of the narrative. The Hebrew focuses on the place where the events in the book take place, because essentially this is the narrative of the Israelites' wanderings from Egypt to Israel, across 40 years. We move from the giving of the Torah and the construction of the Tabernacle in Exodus and Leviticus, to the final valediction of Moses in Deuteronomy -- Bamidbar is the story of wandering that happened in between.
The question of ...
This week's portion begins with the laws of the Sabbath and the Sabbatical year, and the Jubilee year that restores all land to its original (tribal) owners. It also explores laws of property and labor that will apply in the Land of Israel, and the laws of vows and inheritance.
The Israelites are presented -- not for the last time -- with the essential moral choice that they must face, and the rewards for choosing well, along with the consequences for choosing poorly.
We learn that doing good things will earn God's protection from enemies. That does not mean that victims of terror, God forbid, were sinful. But it does mean that we can respond to evil by committing ourselves to a higher path.
This week's portion describes the major sacrifices that are to be offered by the Jewish people, including those that are offered only by the priestly Kohen class, and physical requirements of the people (men) who serve in that role.
Inter alia, there are interesting commandments -- such as an injection to treat animals with respect and care, first, by letting a mother animal nurse her offspring for a week before being offered in any sacrifice; and second, by refraining from slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the same day.
The commandments regarding animals remind us of the purpose of those regarding human beings: to uphold a divine connection, through ritual.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111878/jewish/Rabbi-Isaac-Luria-The-Ari-Hakodosh.htm
