Labor Day weekend reading: Taxes, Russia, and more

We learned this week that Burger King will buy a Canadian restaurant chain and open a headquarters for the new, merged company in Toronto, a move that may allow the fast-food giant to lower its tax burden. The announcement sparked denunciations of Burger King and threats of boycotts – the same response that apparently caused Walgreens to stop considering a similar move abroad. The White House is reportedly thinking about circumventing Congress yet again and adopting new regulations to stem corporate flight.

We can’t afford to sit back and watch U.S. businesses pull up stakes and move away. But I don’t believe the answer lies in exerting ever-more government control over businesses. Like people, businesses respond to incentives. If the U.S. taxes them much more than other countries do, then U.S. businesses have an incentive to move.

So I suggest we remove that incentive – and while we’re at it, we should revamp the entire way businesses are taxed and provide new incentives for businesses to stay here, expand, and bring money home that is now parked in foreign tax havens. I have proposed using 100 percent expensing as a way to accomplish those goals. You can read more about my proposal here.      

Separately, I have a new op-ed outlining a more effective response to Russia’s belligerence. You can read it here.  

Finally, I wanted to share a few pictures of my trip this week to Sequoia National Park, one of central California’s great natural treasures. Portuguese Ambassador Nuno Brito and I had an instructive talk with the park rangers, who led a ceremony declaring my daughters Julia and Margaret to be junior rangers after they climbed to the top of Moro Rock.  

Not long ago, my daughters saw something they seemed to like as much as Sequoia National Park – John Boehner’s toy monkey.

Nunes office seeking interns

I am looking for college interns for the fall and spring semesters to work in my Visalia, Clovis, and Washington, D.C. offices. My current interns drew up a list of reasons to apply:

Top 10 Reasons You Should Intern for Congressman Nunes

10.  You will encounter political figures whom you have only seen on television.

 9.    You will never be hungry because the offices have infinite amounts of jelly bellies and pistachios to snack on, and sometimes you’ll even get doughnuts.

8.      You will have a unique and often comical story to share with your friends and family after every workday. 

7.      You will constantly be amused by the staff’s sense of humor. (Some may call it sophomoric.) You’ll get this once you meet Chief of Staff Johnny Amaral. 

6.      You will become buddies with the Capitol Police, the Sparkletts Water Guy, and Art the Mailman. 

5.      You will never be bored because you will get to talk to new people on the phone all day and conduct tours for visiting constituents. 

4.      You will start answering your personal cell phone by saying, “Office of Congressman Nunes.” 

3.      You will become an expert at Google and acquire a whole new government-themed vocabulary. 

2.      You will always look snazzy because business casual is totally in. 

1.      You will develop lifelong friendships, and your résumé will look great. 

You can find more information and applications for internships on my website here or by calling (559) 733-3861. 

Courtroom pushback on California water

Environmentalists are looking to complete their destruction of the California water supply by pushing legislation to regulate groundwater usage. For a glimpse of what the enviros have already wrought, look at the U.S. Drought Monitor’s list of the top U.S. cities that are running out of water – every one of them is in California and six are in the San Joaquin Valley. There was some pushback this week, however, when a group filed a lawsuit to end the double standard by which San Francisco, with its uninterrupted water supply from Hetch Hetchy, is exempt from the water cutbacks that have plagued the Valley. Read the court filing here.  

Separately, as the Department of Veterans Affairs in D.C. struggles to overcome years of neglect, I received a briefing today at the Fresno VA about how it’s working to improve care for our vets. We owe our veterans a lot, including a functioning VA system that is responsive to their needs.  

Additionally, in case you missed it, you can hear my discussion yesterday with Ray Appleton here.

Finally, the Nunes Digest is updated for your weekend reading here.

KMJ interview at noon Thursday

I’ll be discussing the day’s issues with Ray Appleton on KMJ 580 am at noon PST tomorrow. Listen live here.  

Separately, along with Tulare Vice Mayor Carlton Jones, today I visited the Aspens Apartments, which uses tax credits to provide affordable housing for Tulare families. These sorts of public-private partnerships are an innovative way to enlist the private sector in fighting poverty and assisting low-income families.