This post caused me to wonder: what do the folks on this site think about corporate taxes?
Is it patriotic for a corporation to propose and then lobby for changes in the tax code that benefit the corporation at the expense of the US Treasury?
One of the common tactics for multinational corps (described better by others on this board) is to put a nominal "headquarters" in another country and pay that country's tax, thereby avoiding the US tax, even though the corp is a de facto US corp.
I am going to assume the "libertarians" and "Republicans" on this board fully back the corps who take advantage of the loopholes to the detriment of the US economy unless they post otherwise.
Weigh in on this issue.
Originally Posted by charlestudor2005
The assumption that Republicans and Libertarians are the ones to always back corporate interests is pure Democratic propaganda (yes, that National Socialist popularized term....). The only "Republicans" who back all of these tax deductions, loopholes, and unevenness, are those who WROTE the exemptions for companies in their States and districts.
Well over HALF of all corporate tax deductions were proposed and adopted by DEMOCRATS who were seeking to help a constitutent corporation in their neck of the woods, or the government trying to use the tax code to "change" behavior.
My approach, as a rigid Constitutionalist and Libertarian, and sometimes Republican, would be this:
1. Everybody pays the same % tax on each dollar. The dollar of the millionaire is worth as much to him as the dollar to the beggar. Corporations? Pay a flat percentage tax on PROFIT. If the little hotdog stand pays 15% of his profits in tax, then Walmart also pays 15% of their profit in taxes. Get rid of all those funny accounting rules and ways to "shift" income. A dollar is a dollar is a dollar.
2. Get rid of redistributionist elements of the tax code. EIC is simply a wealth transfer, why don't the feds just take it out of the tax system and just start debit cards, like they do for food stamps and WIC? Stop hiding it as "tax policy" and start putting it as a separate entitlement. Then Americans can independently judge if they're supportive of Marxist-style economic policies, they've fallen in line of Social Security and Medicare, haven't they? Only people who "paid" taxes, should get a refund of the overpayment.
3. Get rid of all of these deductions to "favor" activities. Buying a home isn't what it was. Get rid of that deduction. Why should child care be tax free (why is that activity "preferred".....there's an augment for a national sales tax in lieu of income taxes here). If the taxes are flattened, then it can correspond to each payroll, if the rate if 15% flat, then you earn $1000, your employer remits $150 on your behalf....you don't even have to file a form....then thousands at the IRS can be made unemployed.
I'll admit, my own leanings don't tilt toward "helping" people through government policies, especially when that help is enabled at the point of a gun. For those who claim the "Christian" argument is to help people with all of these "programs"....I ask them if Jesus have used the Roman Army to implement his teachings! Charity should not be at the point of a gun, which is what happens if you refuse to participate in government policies on taxation.
I definitely ascribe to the John Galt view of that I don't owe anybody an existence, nor do I seek to have someone "keep" me. I stand on my own, and will help my brother, because it's my DUTY to, not because government told me I had to.