Tax receipts from corporations as a % of the total amount coming from all other sources has been shrinking over the years. T.R. Reid, the author of the book I referenced, had this Op-Ed in the WaPo late last year. Apologies if you cannot access it but here is the relevant quote,
"The time has come to kill the corporate income tax once and for all because that tax simply doesn't work any more. It used to bring in about 30 percent of federal revenue. Today, even with record corporate profits, it amounts to barely 9 percent of total tax payments.
That's because corporations spend hundreds of millions devising ways to avoid the income tax. If we eliminate the tax, the firms could spend that money for capital investment and job creation. And the thousands of Internal Revenue Service employees now assigned to collect corporate taxes could focus instead on catching upper-bracket evaders of the personal income tax.
In any case, the Republican plan for a corporate tax rate of 20 percent won't stop corporations from shifting profits overseas. Many countries have tax rates lower than 20 percent, including such desirable venues as Ireland (12.5 percent), Canada (15 percent) and Germany (15 percent). Bermuda has a corporate rate of zero, which perhaps explains the existence of a subsidiary called Google Bermuda Unlimited.
Beyond that, nations will cut special deals to lure corporate money from the United States. When Caterpillar, the maker of those iconic yellow earthmovers, shifted the profits from its spare-parts business to Switzerland, the Swiss agreed to a tax rate of around 6 percent, according to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Would a U.S. rate of 20 percent induce Caterpillar to bring that business home?"
When I read his book I found this to be a compelling argument.
I agree with you. That's stunning.
Corporate taxes should be eliminated. Profits disseminated to stockholders should be taxed on their personal income taxes. Corporate money used for expansion, growth, research, etc should not be taxed as they expand the economy, and create more jobs and wealth for the country. Even with a small company like I owned, there was a corporate tax. But since I was able to take the profits as personal income, I only paid once on my personal income taxes. Had I left the profit in the company and then distributed it to me, I would have had to pay twice. One for the corp and once for myself, pretty silly considering I owned 100% of my company.
