Editor's note: "Glenn Beck" is on Headline News nightly at 7 and 9 ET.
Glenn Beck says a lower corporate income tax will help bring businesses to the United States.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Ah, tax day. The day that we all get together to give our money to an organization that none of us believe actually deserves it.
It's the day we all fund thousands of services that don't really work and that most of us will never use -- like we're overpaying for a mediocre meal at a restaurant where we don't even get to eat it.
It's the day we hope and pray to regain ownership of a small percentage of our own money that was taken from us, and that somehow makes us happy. Not surprisingly, only the threat of prison convinces us to continue to participate.
It's a process so unpopular that even politicians, who want nothing more than to spend your money, will all act like they feel your pain.
Republicans say they will cut taxes for everyone and occasionally they do it. Of course, they don't combine that with a cut in spending, so it's like they stop punching you with their left hand and continue with their right.
Democrats don't even bother to hide their love for spending -- at least not well. They just say all those lucky rich people and evil companies will pay the bills. Being lucky, rich, evil and a company, I really hate tax day.
However, I'm a little unsure which approach is better. Democrats burst through the front door of our convenience store with a gun and tell us to empty the contents of our cash register into their little bag with the dollar signs on it.
Republicans walk through the store and smile at us while shoplifting furiously when we turn our backs. When we catch them on surveillance cameras, they just claim they learned their lesson and won't do it next time. Either way I'm being ripped off, and both parties seem to have the attitude that we should be lucky they graced the store with their presence.
Tax day is truly the lone bipartisan day of the year. We all hate it equally. It's a day that liberals can agree with Ronald Reagan, who said, "High taxes and excess spending growth created our present economic mess. More of the same will not cure the hardship, anxiety and discouragement it has imposed on the American people."
It is also a day when conservatives can agree with John F. Kennedy, who said, "I see no magic in tax dollars which are sent to Washington and then returned. I abhor the waste and incompetence of large-scale federal bureaucracies...."
So, in the spirit of bipartisanship, let me attempt one simple tax policy argument. Lower the corporate income tax.
It's something -- and probably the only thing -- that former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-New York, actually agree on. But what makes it so important is the rest of the world agrees on it, too. In a global economy, companies can locate themselves wherever they want. They will set up shop wherever it's easiest to do business. That's also where they will pay most of their taxes and hire thousands of workers.
If you have to make the decision on where to do business, would you choose the country that, according to the Tax Foundation, features the highest corporate state and federal tax in the developed world? I doubt it.
The World Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers just finished their report studying the burden that businesses face by various tax systems. In what it calls the "ease" of paying taxes, we ranked 76th out of 178 countries overall. That's not good.
Unless, of course, you happen to think "good" is being significantly behind the Sudan and Rwanda. We're also three slots behind Palau, which is apparently a country. Who knew? In fact, we're close to 40 slots behind the two countries we're in the middle of trying to free: Iraq and Afghanistan.
Our total tax rate, which includes all taxes paid by a company -- federal, state, property taxes, etc. -- is a literally insane 46.2 percent, ranking us behind 101 countries overall. How do we possibly expect to compete on the global scale when Borat's home country is 44 slots ahead of us?
Certainly, corporate tax code isn't the only thing attracting business. I doubt there will be a rush of corporate activity in the Sudan after this column. But it's important enough that around the world, the study found 65 countries have improved their tax system in the last three years alone, with the lowering of corporate income tax being the most popular improvement.
I am aware that arguing for a tax cut for companies may seem counterintuitive to some, with all the economic problems "Main Street" is feeling at the moment. But that's exactly why we need it so badly. Now is not the time to chase away the companies that employ us.
Whether you agree or not with the corporate tax cut, you probably at least think you're paying too much. For everyone else, the U.S. Government has created a solution. In 1843, an account was set up to accept additional money, to be considered an unconditional gift to the government. Here is their address:
Gifts to the United States
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Credit Accounting Branch
3700 East-West Highway, Room 6D17
Hyattsville, Maryland 20782
I'm sure the checks will be pouring in.
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