Michele Bachmann pushes for more corporate tax welfare

Michele Bachmann put jobs ahead of government spending cuts on a day in Des Moines that included private meetings with area business owners.

Bachmann urged the federal government to allow companies with cash holdings overseas to reinvest the money at home without paying taxes on those profits. She claims the change could quickly inject billions in investment into the U.S. economy.

"They want to bring it back into the United States and create jobs here in Iowa, all across the country," Bachmann said while appearing at a tea party rally in Des Moines. "Wouldn't the smartest thing to do be to say to all of these companies, `Zero repatriation tax?' "

But according to the Wall Street Journal, a 2009 study from the nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research found that for every dollar companies brought back to the U.S., they invested less than one cent more domestically. Businesses that repatriated profits primarily used the funds to reward shareholders, largely through dividends and stock buybacks.