When Barack Obama wanted to explain how multinational corporations that follow the rules are actually tax cheats, the president decided to use India as an example for tax havens. Unfortunately, as the Wall Street Journal noted yesterday, it appears that Obama has been getting his tax advice from his tax-evading Treasury Secretary:

President Obama revealed Monday that he’s half a supply-sider. If only someone could explain to him the other half. We have a tax code, the President said, “that says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo, New York.” That sounds like a great argument for lowering taxes on the guy creating jobs in Buffalo. Alas, that’s not what he has in mind.

Set aside that India is a poor example to make Mr. Obama’s point, since its corporate tax rate on foreign-owned companies can be as high as 55%.

Oops!  I guess Obama decided that he needed to pick on someone other than Ireland and the Netherlands, both of which fought back after Obama named them as eeeeevil “tax havens” for having the audacity to offer a lower corporate tax rate than the US … or India. Can’t anyone at this White House actually do research?

Maybe Obama didn’t get this example from Geithner.  To be fair, he might have gotten it from Joe Biden.

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