14 ms·
I wonder: if IKEA had been paying income taxes all along, how much less in personal income taxes would they have generated? Corporate income is the single sour
by byrneseyeview 17y ago
I wonder: if IKEA had been paying income taxes all along, how much less in personal income taxes would they have generated?
Corporate income is the single source of income most likely to be productively reinvested, because corporations function more like homo economicus than any other kind of entity. And since they're entirely owned by either a) people, or b) charities, it doesn't make sense to talk about taxing corporations instead of individuals--rather, you should refer to corporate income tax as a tax on individuals and nonprofits, instead of just individuals.
From that perspective, IKEA pays the socially optimal corporate income tax: zero.
- jacquesm 17y agoIf corporations are 'incorporated' they become citizens, citizens pay tax. You can't have it both ways.
- byrneseyeview 17y agoCitizens also vote. I've never understood why people consider 'corporate citizenship' so meaningful; it's a terse description of a legal hack, not some profound statement about what a corporation is.
- philwelch 17y agoCorporations are persons, but they are not citizens. For the sake of comparison, cities, states, ships and foreign nationals are also persons, but not citizens. Only human beings are considered "natural persons".
- whatusername 17y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dividend_imputation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dividend_imputation might fix the issue of corporation tax vs. individual tax