Page 8A
BUSINESS
East Oregonian
Saturday, September 16, 2017
Doubts arise on whether corporate tax cut would boost growth
By JOSH BOAK
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON
—
For
President Donald Trump, what’s
good for General Motors is great
for American workers. Same for
Boeing. And AT&T. Not to mention
small businesses.
Trump insists that slashing the
corporate tax rate from 35 percent
to as low as 15 percent would free
up valuable cash. Companies would
use the money to boost investment,
increase employees’ pay, accelerate
hiring and speed economic growth.
What’s more, corporations that now
keep trillions overseas to avoid
U.S. taxes would bring the money
home. American companies could
better compete with rivals based in
countries with lower tax rates.
“We’re going to have magnif-
icent growth,” Trump declared
aboard Air Force One on Thursday.
“We’re going to go like a rocket
ship.”
Would we? Many economists,
tax experts and even some business
owners say it’s unlikely. Rather than
hire, companies might use much of
their tax savings to buy back their
stock or increase their dividends to
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump talks with reporters after landing on Air
Force One, in Fort Myers, Fla., on Thursday.
investors. Many companies, they
note, have already been able to
borrow at historically low rates to
expand their businesses yet have
chosen not to.
“The mainstream economic
evidence is that the bulk of corpo-
rate tax cuts go exactly to whom
you would expect — which is
wealthy investors and executives,”
said Chye-Ching Huang, deputy
BRIEFLY
Baker Boyer promotes bank official
WALLA WALLA — Karen Benge was recently promoted
to the vice president and asset management operations
manager at Baker Boyer Bank.
Benge graduated with a bachelor’s
degree from Washington State
University in 2010. She began her
career with Baker Boyer Jan. 30, 2013,
as an investment associate for the
trust department. She was promoted
to assistant investment operations
manager in December 2014, advancing
to manager in May 2015, and then as an
assistant vice president in May 2016.
Established in 1869, Baker Boyer
Benge
Bank continues to grow and build on
strong community ties. In addition to
locations in Washington, the bank has a branch in Milton-
Freewater. For more information, visit www.bakerboyer.com.
Bus tour cruises into Port of Morrow
BOARDMAN — Highlighting one of Oregon’s largest
ports, the Boardman Chamber of Commerce is hosting its
annual Port of Morrow Bus Tour.
Participants can learn about various businesses that are
located at the port, information about the infrastructure, and
developments and plans for the future at the Port of Morrow.
The event is Wednesday, Sept. 20 with boarding beginning
at 11:55 a.m. at the port’s Riverfront Center, 2 Marine Drive,
Boardman. Due to limited seating, people must RSVP. In
addition, a box lunch is available from C&D Drive-In. The
cost is $12.
For more information or to RSVP, contact 541-481-3014 or
info@boardmanchamber.org.
director of federal tax policy at the
left-leaning Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities.
Many economists foresee some
benefits from overhauling and
simplifying the corporate tax code,
just not the extreme growth Trump
is promising.
One reason corporate tax cuts
might provide little overall benefit
is the relative health of today’s
economy. Unemployment is already
unusually low at 4.4 percent. The
economy is in the ninth year of a
slow but steady expansion, rather
than in a downturn in which tax cuts
might deliver a major boost.
In a 2014 paper, two econo-
mists — Alexander Ljungqvist of
New York University and Michael
Smolyansky of the Federal Reserve
— concluded that state corporate
tax cuts did little to strengthen
economic activity unless the cuts
were made during a recession. (The
flip side is that they found corporate
tax increases to be “uniformly
harmful.”)
Nor have previous efforts to
reduce corporate taxes generally
delivered as advertised. Kansas,
for example, exempted hundreds
of thousands of businesses from
corporate taxes and cut individual
rates in 2012, only to face a revenue
squeeze as the intended economic
growth never materialized.
The
federal
government
provided a tax “holiday” on over-
seas profits in 2004 to bring money
back into the United States at a
discount to the 35 percent rate. But
the Obama administration observed
later that the move had diminished
tax revenue and unintentionally led
companies to hoard cash abroad in
hopes of receiving that discount.
There is also concern that a
corporate tax cut would swell the
federal budget deficit. When the
nonpartisan Tax Policy Center
published an analysis this week,
it found that even if virtually all
tax breaks were eliminated, the
corporate rate could drop only to
26 percent without increasing the
deficit.
Still, many companies stress
that lower business taxes would
lead to more hiring. John Stephens,
AT&T’s chief financial officer, said
his company faces a typical tax rate
of 34 percent — including federal,
state, foreign and deferred taxes —
in any given year.
Stephens estimates that lower
rates would lead the company to
immediately invest more money
in its phone network, which he
said would lead to more hiring by
companies that work with AT&T.
“When we buy more equipment,
our vendors hire more,” Stephens
said. “When we build more exten-
sive networks, we have people
— hard-hat jobs — building those
networks.”
Key Equifax executives departing after huge data breach
By KEN SWEET
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK — Equifax announced
late Friday that its chief information
officer and chief security officer would
leave the company immediately,
following the enormous breach of 143
million Americans’ personal informa-
tion.
It also presented a litany of security
efforts it made after noticing suspicious
network traffic in July.
The credit data company said that
Susan Mauldin, who had been the top
security officer, and David Webb, the
chief technology officer, are retiring
from Equifax. Mauldin, a college music
major, had come under media scrutiny
for her qualifications in security.
Equifax did not say in its statement
what retirement packages the execu-
tives would receive.
Mauldin is being replaced by Russ
Ayers, an information technology
executive inside Equifax. Webb is being
replaced by Mark Rohrwasser, who
most recently was in charge of Equifax’s
international technology operations.
Equifax has been under intense
public pressure since it disclosed last
week that hackers accessed or stole the
millions of Social Security numbers,
birthdates and other information.
On Friday it gave its most detailed
timeline of the breach yet, saying it
noticed suspicious network traffic on
July 29 associated with its U.S. online
dispute portal web application. Equifax
said it believes the access occurred from
May 13 through July 30.
Equifax had said earlier that it
identified a weakness in an open-source
software package called Apache Struts
as the technological crack that allowed
hackers to heist the data from the
massive database maintained primarily
for lenders. That disclosure, made
late Wednesday, cast the company’s
damaging security lapse in an even
harsher light. The software problem was
detected in March and a recommended
software patch was released shortly
afterward.
Equifax said its security officials
were “aware of this vulnerability at that
time, and took efforts to identify and
to patch any vulnerable systems in the
company’s IT infrastructure.”
The company said it hired Mandiant,
a business often brought in to deal with
major technology security problems at
big companies, to do a forensic review.
Equifax has been castigated for how
it has handled the breach, which it did
not disclose publicly for weeks after
discovering it.
Consumers calling the number
Equifax set up initially complained of
jammed phone lines and uninformed
representatives, and initial responses
from the website gave inconsistent
responses. The company says it has
addressed many of those problems.
Equifax also said Friday it would
continue to allow people to place credit
freezes on their reports without a fee
through November 21. Originally the
company offered fee-free credit freezes
for 30 days after the incident.
Equifax is facing a myriad of inves-
tigations and class-action lawsuits for
this breach, including Congressional
investigations, queries by the Federal
Trade Commission and the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau, as well
as several state attorneys general. The
company’s CEO Richard Smith is
scheduled to testify in front of Congress
in early October.
Three Equifax executives — not the
ones who are departing — sold shares
worth a combined $1.8 million just a
few days after the company discovered
the breach, according to documents
filed with securities regulators.
Equifax shares have lost a third
of their value since it announced the
breach.
Heppner chamber lunch features
agricultural program update
HEPPNER — Larry Lutcher will provide an update on the
Morrow County Agricultural Program during the upcoming
Heppner Chamber of Commerce meeting.
The no-host luncheon is Thursday, Sept. 21 at noon
at Heppner City Hall, 111 N. Main St. Catered by Tacos
Hometown, the meal is $10. Those planning to attend need to
RSVP by Tuesday and designate a choice between a chicken
or beef burrito, which will be served with chips and salsa and
a cookie.
In addition, Heppner is hosting the sixth annual Blue
Mountain Century Scenic Bikeway Ride this weekend. The
chamber encourages the public to welcome visitors to the
community.
For more information or to RSVP for the lunch, contact
541-676-5536 or heppnerchamber@centurytel.net.
ENERGY
SAVINGS
ARE IN YOUR
FUTURE
Fairway Independent Mortgage opens
new branch in Hermiston
HERMISTON — Hermiston now has its own branch of
Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation.
The newly-renovated office at 308 E. Gladys Ave. is still
being touched up, but is open for business with loan officers
Kim Arbogast and Meghan Golden.
Arbogast started her career in the industry in 1996 with
Bank of Eastern Oregon, then started Hometown Mortgage
Group in 2009. She and business partner Melissa Webb
decided to split up their business and Arbogast opened the
Fairway office. She said she was excited to make a change.
“It’s a good move,” she said.
Arbogast and her husband Ty Arbogast raised their four
daughters in Heppner before moving to Hermiston in 2011.
Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation has funded
more than $50 billion in home mortgage loans since it opened
more than 20 years ago, according to the company’s website,
and acts as an advisor to would-be homebuyers through the
finance process. It offers adjustable-rate, conventional, FHA,
fixed-rate, jumbo, refinance, renovation, reverse mortgage,
USDA and VA mortgage options.
The office is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through
Friday.
Medical Aesthetic Appointments
THREE WAYS YOU CAN COMMAND
YOUR HOME ENERGY DESTINY
LIGHTING
ELECTRONICS
HEATING
Install ENERGY STAR® LED
bulbs to cut your energy use
by as much as 85 percent.
LEDs are available in many
styles to fit all the rooms in
your home and you’ll save even
more in the long run because
they’ll last up to 20 times
longer than standard bulbs.
Unplug battery chargers for
mobile phones, tablets, laptops
and other devices when not in
use—they use energy even when
they’re not actively charging
anything. Group your electronics
together on power strips so you
can switch them off when you’re
done using everything.
Save on heating costs by
lowering the thermostat to
65-68 degrees when you’re
home, and to 58-60 degrees
at night or when you’re
away. Upgrade to a smart
thermostat to make these
kinds of energy-saving
changes automatically.
Botox • Fillers • Kybella • IPL • Ultherapy
available with
Dr. Marcea Wiggins at
Exhale Day Spa • Joseph, OR.
September 28th & 29th
Call 971.407.3066
to schedule for a
complimentary consultation,
a specific service or
with questions.
Visit Santepdx.com to learn more about
Dr. Wiggins and the service she offers!
+
Get more from your energy. Call us at 1.866.368.7878
or visit www.energytrust.org/homes.
Serving customers of Portland General Electric, Pacific Power,
NW Natural, Cascade Natural Gas and Avista.