Clinton proposes cutting corporate tax breaks

By Brian Early

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Tuesday she might seek to scrap certain corporate tax breaks and subject CEO pay to public scrutiny if elected president in November 2008.

One of the front-running candidates in a large field of Democrats, Clinton -- the former first lady -- outlined her vision for the economy during a campaign stop in New Hampshire, home of one of the first presidential election primaries.

Speaking at the Manchester School of Technology, Clinton accused President George W. Bush, due to leave office in January 2009, of caring mainly about the country's wealthiest citizens while ignoring the rest.

"It's like the trickle down economics without the trickle," she said.

She said she would advocate tax code changes that would keep jobs at home although she offered little in the way of specifics. She said she would require oil companies to invest in alternative technologies or pay higher taxes.

"It is one thing for the marketplace to encourage overseas investment, it's another thing for our tax code to do it," Clinton said in what her campaign billed as a major policy address.

"We will consider eliminating the deduction for the actual cost of moving jobs. There should be no advantage given to anyone who takes jobs and ships overseas at the disadvantage of our workforce."

In Iowa, another crucial primary state, Clinton's Democratic rival U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois was outlining a plan for U.S. health care coverage.

Clinton demanded more transparency at corporations where top executives have received multimillion-dollar pay packages.

"We need to open up CEO compensation to public scrutiny and public challenge and ensure that boards of directors are independent when determining CEO pay," she said, echoing the calls of some shareholder activists.