Quote:
Originally Posted by Ringo1
I propose Amazon start chipping in. How much did they pay in taxes last year again?
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I see you never studied Economics. There are some excellent free online resources should you feel motivated to learn.
One of the fundamental lessons of economics is that the entity that bears the statutory burden of a tax has nothing to do with where the burden of that tax ultimately falls. "Statutory burden" means the entity that, by law/regulation, must fill out a tax form & send it with money off to the IRS and to various state and local taxing authorities.
Any statutory burden of a tax on a corporation is allocated as follows:
- X% is borne by customers in the form of prices higher than they otherwise would be
- Y% is borne by employees in the form of total compensation (and hours worked) lower than they otherwise would be
- Z% is borne by business owners (shareholders) in the form of profits lower than they otherwise would be
...where X+Y+Z=1.0 (that is, X%+Y%+Z%=100.0%)
Sooo... corporations merely collect & forward tax revenue to the IRS. The burden of that statutory tax is
always allocated to a combination of customers, employees, and business owners (shareholders).
That is, 100% of corporate income tax obligations are paid by PEOPLE. Actual, real, breathing, tangible, live people.
Zero Percent of any corporate income tax obligation falls on the shoulder of a corporation. Zero. Percent.
To the extent a corporation is able to minimize a tax burden, that just means customers didn't have to pay a higher price, employees get paid more (and work more), and business owners (shareholders) make more profit.
There quite literally is no place else for the corporate tax to flow: it must go to a combination of the three.
If you didn't understand me, here are a few hyperlinks that you can follow to get more detail or perhaps a better explanation.
http://www.econport.org/content/hand...incidence.html
https://www.khanacademy.org/economic...-tax-incidence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_incidence
http://ase.tufts.edu/economics/papers/200607.pdf
The assertion that "huge corporations got a tax break" in the TCJA is 100% false. Corporations do not bear the burden of income taxes so they cannot get a tax break.
That last sentence bears repeating lest you accidentally misread it:
Corporations do not bear the burden of income taxes so they cannot get a tax break.
Corporations merely collect and forward tax receipts from people. Similarly, because corporations do not incur the burden of taxes, any time you raise corporate tax rates, you are merely raising taxes on actual people.
The assertion by all the candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination that they will raise income taxes on "huge corporations" is also disingenuous. If that comes to pass, 100% of that tax increase will fall on the shoulders of actual people: customers in the form of prices that are higher than they otherwise would be, employees in the form of lower total compensation & fewer hours worked compared to what they otherwise would be, and owners in the form of profits that are lower than they otherwise would be.
Corporations do NOT pay taxes, period.
They merely collect and forward taxes.
Think about it this way: when you go to a retail store and buy stuff, look at your receipt and you will see you paid some sales tax (well, that is true in 45 of the 50 states; the other 5 do not have a sales tax). So... you paid sales tax on your purchases, right?
Nope. You did NOT pay sales tax. You did NOT file a form with your state sales tax authority and remit money to them. The retailer did. So the Retailer paid the sales tax (along with filing the paper work).
But wait! Every Housewife knows she actually paid the sales tax - it is there on the receipt, even though the retailer is the one who actually filed the paperwork and sent off money. Every Housewife understands the retailer is "collecting and forwarding" sales tax revenue to the state and the burden falls on the shoulder of the shopper; the same is true with regard to corporate income taxes: the corporation "collects and forwards" income tax, where the economic burden of that income tax falls on the shoulders of actual people: customers in the form of prices higher than they otherwise would be, employees in the form of total compensation & hours worked lower than they otherwise would be, and owners (shareholders) in the form of profits lower than they otherwise would be.
So the question is, are you as erudite as Every Housewife?
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