During a speech on the subject of workers and tax reform, Hillary Clinton laid out a plan to punish companies that move overseas, yet benefit from U.S. tax breaks.
Clinton spoke at a car part manufacturing plant in Detroit today. She said she would implement an “exit tax,” designed to discourage companies from moving overseas, despite receiving federal tax breaks. If a company receiving the breaks moves overseas, she said, it would be required to pay the money back.
“If you aren’t going to invest in us, why should taxpayers invest in you?” she said.
Also in her address, she referenced her political ideologies from years ago, asking for the Democratic Party to let them be water under the bridge.
“On the Democratic side, we agree on a number of things,” she said. “But I don’t think we can answer that question by re-fighting battles from 20 years ago.”
She was referring to her support of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Fellow presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has used this to gain sway over Clinton.
Additionally, she criticized current trade policies and enforcement, citing her previous support of certain trade policies as examples of ideas that never panned out.
“Looking back over the past decades as globalization picked up steam,” she said, “there is no doubt that the benefits of trade has [sic] not been as widely enjoyed as many predicted.”
Despite her large lead over Sanders on Super Tuesday, Clinton will have to distance herself from her older policies, if she is to win more Democratic support. She has started this by expressing the desire to punish certain companies, along with disapproval of China’s behavior regarding trade, calling it the “worst rule-breaker in the world.”
“When it comes to trade deals, here is my standard,” she said. “I won’t support any agreement unless it helps create good jobs and higher wages for American workers and protects our national security. I need to be able to look into the eyes of any hard-working American anywhere in our country and say, ‘This deal will help raise your income.'”
Nonetheless, certain experts have voiced their skepticism, among them Mark Sullivan, chief economist with Tax Analysts.
“She’s applying all the sticks,” he said. “I don’t see any carrots.”
Featured image by Marc Nozell via Flickr, available under a Creative Commons license.
