Why a Corporate Tax Rate at All?

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Today, President Obama unveiled his latest plan to reform the corporate tax structure. I'm not too curious about the community's thoughts on this overall since I'm fairly sure we all know where we all sit on Obama making good/bad choices here, but I do have a more general question:

Why have a corporate tax rate at all?

I'd like to think we all agree on these basic points:

a) The corporate tax rate is not really paid by the corporation or business in question. Taxes are simply another cost that is levied on a company, a cost recouped through fewer services, lower wages/employment, higher prices, or some combination therein. It's not an issue of "fair share," really, since we're all paying it.

b) Our corporate tax rate is comparatively high when stacked up against other nations. We're #1 in the OECD at 35%. Canada, directly to our north, is at 15%. And that's without factoring in the corporate tax rates of individual states. Whether you think this matters much is up to you.

c) We only tax profits, and that's proper: If a company doesn't make a profit, it's not paying that tax rate. It's one reason why many corporations don't end up having a tax obligation.

d) We offer a lot of tax credits and opportunities to lower the effective rate: From green energy tax credits to employment credits, even profitable companies are able to reduce their effective rate to zero - or lower.

e) Corporate taxes account for a fairly small amount of overall receipts: Well under $250b in 2010.

So the question I pose is this - if you're in favor of a corporate tax at all, why? Is it worth it given what we all know and agree on? Is the value of getting $220b in revenue from the corporations worth it?

Comments

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

All costs are passed to wherever your income is coming from, whether that be parts, CEO bonuses, staff wages, etc. Lets just make sure that's out of the way first. When a CEO is making 300% of the lowest paid worker, that is being passed to the consumer. Giant pile of cash bonuses and skiing "business meetings" etc are being paid by the consumer.

Past that are taxes, which are only paid when the company can afford it, not as a static cost. Then that money goes to improving the lives of that same consumer, and more often than not, the business environment of the company, whether that is war for oil to make their products, a billion dollar no bid contract for whatchamacallits, a new road to nowhere, etc. (and lots of legitimate costs too, I was just being snarky)

I mean we could have you pay for all their taxes directly out of your income if you want. Or we could result to building highways out of the bones of slaves I guess.

[onefatmusicnerd.livejournal.com]

Where do CEOs make 21.75?

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

Yeah I'm missing some zeroes.