Mark Cuban says tax rates have almost no impact on investment, technology will drive our growth

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New Theory attended The Trump Budget Debate at Thompson Reuters in Times Square. Shark Tank Investor and Billionaire tech entrepreneur Mark Cuban who was on the prestigious panel stated that “U.S. corporate tax rate would have little to no effect on his investment decisions.”

Currently, there are bills before U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives that would reduce the corporate rate from 35% to 20%

President Trump along with his supporters say reducing corporate tax burden would boost the U.S. economy by freeing up money that can be used to create jobs.

Alan Blinder, who also sat on the panel is the former vice chair of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors. He shared that tax rates have little or no bearing on subsequent economic growth.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said “taxes matter” as a well-constructed tax policy may improve long-term growth, however, nearly as much as the assumptions made by the Trump administration. Either way, he was vocal to say that both proposals were “very bad tax policy.”

Photo Credit: Reuters / Brendan McDermid

Dr. Dambisa Moyo, who was my favorite on the panel is a Zambian-born economist, said: “technology, demographic shifts such as immigration, and debt have far more impact than do taxes on growth”. I also asked Mark and her the question about what affect machine learning and artificial intelligence on services jobs. Mark Cuban seems to believe the Entrepreneurs will pick up the slack as Dr. Moyo didn’t appear as optimistic to me. She echoed that there is still major economic disparities in the US and tax cuts are not the solution.

Although Cuban shared that taxes have no bearing on his investment decisions, the best bet for Tump would be to reduce the payroll taxes felt by both employees and employers essentially giving the American people a “raise.”

Mark Zandi. Cheif Economist at Moody’s, Photo Credit: Reuters / Brendan McDermid

When Cuban was asked if he would run for President, he replied with “I don’t know yet”. He then added “It’s a serious decision and it’s not one I have to make today,” Cuban said.

I wonder if this is secretly a listening tour to gauge interest in him as a presidential candidate in 2020. That remains to be seen as it appears, for now, Trump’s tax plan will go through, its just a question of whether it’s house or Senate bill. The proposed measures reduce the property tax exemption which will disproportionally hurt house values in California, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut as these states have the highest property taxes in the country. We’re all for fewer taxes, but let’s not kid ourselves and say it’s the engine behind economic growth. Further, the bottom end of the tax scale will most likely not see a substantial deduction in either plan. We need real jobs in this country, not top heavy tax deductions.