Corporate Taxes Are Just Like Tariffs (1 Viewer)

Corporate taxes are like tariffs - they don’t just hit corporations. They get passed along to all of us through higher prices, lower wages, and reduced investment returns.

Why? Because when you tax profits, companies have to maintain their margins. So they raise prices, cut labor costs, or return less to investors. The burden doesn’t stay with the corporation - it spreads to consumers, workers, and shareholders.

Corporate taxes are a way for the filthy state to tax us and hide it. That's why it's called a hidden tax:

 

[aociswundumho]

IF corporations were to distribute their total profits to shareholders each year, where the shareholders would have to pay tax on the income, I'd see no reason to tax the corporation.

So you're acknowledging that corporate taxes are a double dip - same money, taxed twice: once by the corporation, again by the shareholder. That’s a separate argument against corporate taxes, but I didn’t bring it up because the left sees double taxation as a feature, not a bug.

 

[Individual]

So you're acknowledging that corporate taxes are a double dip - same money, taxed twice: once by the corporation, again by the shareholder. That’s a separate argument against corporate taxes, but I didn’t bring it up because the left sees double taxation as a feature, not a bug.

Are you saying dividends paid do not reduce the taxable income of a corporation?

 

[aociswundumho]

Are you saying dividends paid do not reduce the taxable income of a corporation?

Dividends are not a deductible expense. They’re paid after corporate income tax is applied. That’s the whole point - profits are taxed at the corporate level before they’re distributed, then taxed again when shareholders receive them.

 

[Individual]

Dividends are not a deductible expense. They’re paid after corporate income tax is applied. That’s the whole point - profits are taxed at the corporate level before they’re distributed, then taxed again when shareholders receive them.

I'll keep that in mind if we ever resolve the individual income tax code and I still have time to look at corporate/business tax code, or someone else can try to resolve that simultaneously.

 

[L88]

Corporate profits are also taxed twice when dividends are declared.

Kinda sucks.

 

[uptower]

Either way the same "free market" that so-called conservatives adore will look for excuses to raise prices.

 

[Nickyjo]

Corporate taxes are like tariffs - they don’t just hit corporations. They get passed along to all of us through higher prices, lower wages, and reduced investment returns.

Why? Because when you tax profits, companies have to maintain their margins. So they raise prices, cut labor costs, or return less to investors. The burden doesn’t stay with the corporation - it spreads to consumers, workers, and shareholders.

Corporate taxes are a way for the filthy state to tax us and hide it. That's why it's called a hidden tax:


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Corporations have personhood. Why not tax them as other persons are taxed? Or take away the “personhood”. protections their officers have from liability, ones citizens don’t have.

 

[Individual]

Corporate profits are also taxed twice when dividends are declared.

Kinda sucks.

Thinking about it, isn't money taxed each time it changes hand?
1. The profits of the Corporation is taxed, like the income of an individual.
2. The dividends disbursed to shareholders is taxed as income they earned.
3. The after tax dividends earned, if spent, provide a source of taxable income for others.
4. And the process repeats.

 

[Individual]

Corporations have personhood. Why not tax them as other persons are taxed? Or take away the “personhood”. protections their officers have from liability, ones citizens don’t have.

You've touched on something I've thought about in the past. When a corporation is sued, any losses should be paid from the pockets of those who make the decisions, not the employees or stockholders as a whole. Golden parachutes should be made illegal.

 

[aociswundumho]

Corporations have personhood. Why not tax them as other persons are taxed?

Because it's a legal fiction. If you give personhood to a tree, and then tax the tree, any money you collect didn't come from the tree. Only people can pay taxes.

Or take away the “personhood”. protections their officers have from liability, ones citizens don’t have.

Sound good to me.

 

[Helix]

I can't wait until the 2017 corporate tax cuts trickle down in the form of big raises like they said. Any day now.

 

[L88]

Thinking about it, isn't money taxed each time it changes hand?
1. The profits of the Corporation is taxed, like the income of an individual.
2. The dividends disbursed to shareholders is taxed as income they earned.
3. The after tax dividends earned, if spent, provide a source of taxable income for others.
4. And the process repeats.

Doesn't make it right.
A salary is only taxed once at the recipient level and deducted at the payer level.

 

[Individual]

Doesn't make it right.
A salary is only taxed once at the recipient level and deducted at the payer level.

Wages paid employees of a corporation should not be included in the taxable profits of the corporation. I would have no problem with dividends or bonuses being paid from the after tax profits.

 

[Nickyjo]

Because it's a legal fiction. If you give personhood to a tree, and then tax the tree, any money you collect didn't come from the tree. Only people can pay taxes.



Sound good to me.

I don’t understand your first point. Despite the legal fiction, and the defensible position that both personhood and lower tax rates for corporations are an economic good, we do tax corporations.

 

[aociswundumho]

we do tax corporations.

Yes, but corporate taxes get passed along to consumers, workers, and investors as outlined in the OP. It's a dishonest, hidden tax, just like a tariffs.

 

[Individual]

Yes, but corporate taxes get passed along to consumers, workers, and investors as outlined in the OP. It's a dishonest, hidden tax, just like a tariffs.

Should corporations be taxed and if so, how would you suggest they be taxed?

 

[aociswundumho]

Should corporations be taxed

No.

 

[Nickyjo]

Yes, but corporate taxes get passed along to consumers, workers, and investors as outlined in the OP. It's a dishonest, hidden tax, just like a tariffs.

Fine with me if taxes and wages get passed along in prices. (They are taxed at a lower rate, but if their taxes help run government, that’s ok.) But if you want to have the benefits and protections of being able to incorporate, accept certain controls. Or don’t allow incorporation, and tax corporate officers, make them personally liable.

What’s your solution?

 

[Individual]

No.

Should individuals be taxed?

 

[Individual]

Fine with me if taxes and wages get passed along in prices. (They are taxed at a lower rate, but if their taxes help run government, that’s ok.) But if you want to have the benefits and protections of being able to incorporate, accept certain controls. Or don’t allow incorporation, and tax corporate officers, make them personally liable.

What’s your solution?

For every thread containing a complaint, that should be what we focus a discussion about.

 

[aociswundumho]

Should individuals be taxed?

No.

 

[CaughtInThe]

So while Trump is causing Rome to burn, the OP is doubling down.

That's pretty ****ed up.

 

[Individual]

No.

I'll leave you to figure out how to accomplish that.

 

[aociswundumho]

I'll leave you to figure out how to accomplish that.

It will be accomplished when crypto use becomes widespread. The rotten government can't tax what it can't see.

 

[OrphanSlug]

Corporate taxes are *not* just like tariffs, the former is calculated based on profit and the latter is an import tax calculated at import. Corporations have different mechanisms to try to avoid paying these taxes which are also not the same.

The effect of these taxes tends to be inflationary, which is the only commonality that they share.