The absurd argument that Corporations don't pay taxes, they just collect them

[ThomWV]

It is absurd to say that Corporations do not pay taxes, that they just collect them from their customers and pass them along to the Government. That is exactly the same thing as saying that Corporations do not make profits, they just collect money from customers and pass it along to stock holders. It is exactly the same argument and it speaks about exactly the same pool of money.

If you want to see the finances of this country get right just try this - tax the corporations at exactly the same amount they pay out in annual dividends. So if Exxon pays out $10 Billion in stock dividends in the 1st quarter, then they owe $10 Billion in tax for the 1st quarter - no deductions, nor reductions, just a flat out dollar for dollar match. That goes for mom and pop corporations too.

[madokie]

1. I'm not sure about the not 'passing it down' but I agree with the rest

I say tax the fuckers until they bleed

[kentuck]

2. It is absurd because...

it is in direct contradiction to the law of supply and demand.

That's like saying if one company's prices go up to make up for increase in taxes, they can still make the same amount of money as another company who does not raise their price but sells the same product at a much lower price. Would not most of their business go to the company with the lower price if taxed company continued to raise their prices to make up for the tax increase?

Actually, the opposite would occur. Their prices would go down so they could compete with the company with lower prices. That is the law of supply and demand.

[Imajika]

3. Sorry, but it isn't absurd at all...

It isn't always true, but there is a lot of truth to it.

Throughout the year the company I work for calculates things like how much tax we are likely to owe. We essentially count it as an upcoming expense and either pass the cost on to our clients, do things like find less expensive vendors to work with (hello outsourcing functions to India where we can get a better deal), or effectively take it out of employee salaries and benefits.

It has been like this everywhere I've ever worked. As the biggest chunk of expenses most companies incur are payroll, it is the first place the bean counters look to find cuts.

If the company has to pay 100k more in taxes next year, trust me, it isn't coming out of the salaries of the CEO or company executives.

[Capitalocracy]

4. In the future they might collect taxes...

States are passing laws enabling (Republican) governors to dissolve municipal governments (in case of "financial emergency") and replace them with appointed administrators... which can be people or corporations.

[xoom]

5. playing de ils advocate... what business around now would stay around

while being taxed that much? Wouldn't they just go somewhere else?

[buddysmellgood]

6. Corporations should not be considered people and should not be taxed. The people who profit from the

corps should be taxed. If we could do that effectively, I would have no problem with corps not paying taxes. Until then, we should tax them heavily.