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> In Germany, our constitution says in §14.2: "Eigentum verpflichtet. You can tax the property of people without taxing corporations. The former can be done wi

> In Germany, our constitution says in §14.2: "Eigentum verpflichtet. You can tax the property of people without taxing corporations. The former can be done with reasonable effort and effectiveness because the location of someone and their home's can be determined. Taxing corporations has proven unreliable and ineffective because they're often just a mailbox in s tax haven and profits are moved to other entities easily (via licensing fees etc.). There's also no real need to tax them, as you can tax their owners.

pzone 11y ago
Yes. I would even argue that advancing the common good includes a mandate not to pass unenforceable welfare-destroying tax laws.
DominikR 11y ago
Fully agree, if the state did not tax corporations they could work near maximum efficiency if correctly managed, while the state still could get his share whenever an owner extracts a part of the profits for private use.
- mschuster91 11y ago
  > while the state still could get his share whenever an owner extracts a part of the profits for private use The problem is: this won't happen, as people by nature are too greedy. They will spend the minimum until someone finds a tax loophole and then in a rush all the money is gone and untaxable.
  - lazyjones 11y ago
    > The problem is: this won't happen, as people by nature are too greedy. They will spend the minimum until someone finds a tax loophole Typical extracted profits are dividends. In my country, tax is due and payable by the corporation as soon as dividends are issued and unless you're a majority owner, you have no control over when dividends are paid (certainly true for Google, Apple, Microsoft etc. shareholders).
yc1010 11y ago
> There's also no real need to tax them, as you can tax their owners. Thats what happens in Ireland, corporation tax is lowish (12.5%) and theres not that many loopholes/concessions as in other EU states where companies can reduce their corporate tax to near nothing already BUT personal taxes are a murder Lets say you are a director of startup and the company has€100000 left after costs and taxes etc, lets say as director you want to pay yourself a salary of 100K for your hard work, you be lucky you be left with 50K after income tax, PAYE/PRSI insurance tax and "Universal Social Charge" On the money that you have left you would have to pay for medical insurance (aint free here like UK), VAT of 23% on almost anything you buy (more for cars, less for food etc), new property and water taxes and so on Keep in mind that Ireland gets blamed for alot of this goings on, but its just a step on path large corporations take to move money onto Carribean.
- lazyjones 11y ago
  That doesn't scare me, it's about the same here in Austria - on top of 25% corporate tax, 25% tax on dividends (capital income).

pzone 11y ago

Yes. I would even argue that advancing the common good includes a mandate not to pass unenforceable welfare-destroying tax laws.

DominikR 11y ago

Fully agree, if the state did not tax corporations they could work near maximum efficiency if correctly managed, while the state still could get his share whenever an owner extracts a part of the profits for private use.

mschuster91 11y ago
> while the state still could get his share whenever an owner extracts a part of the profits for private use The problem is: this won't happen, as people by nature are too greedy. They will spend the minimum until someone finds a tax loophole and then in a rush all the money is gone and untaxable.
- lazyjones 11y ago
  > The problem is: this won't happen, as people by nature are too greedy. They will spend the minimum until someone finds a tax loophole Typical extracted profits are dividends. In my country, tax is due and payable by the corporation as soon as dividends are issued and unless you're a majority owner, you have no control over when dividends are paid (certainly true for Google, Apple, Microsoft etc. shareholders).

yc1010 11y ago

> There's also no real need to tax them, as you can tax their owners. Thats what happens in Ireland, corporation tax is lowish (12.5%) and theres not that many loopholes/concessions as in other EU states where companies can reduce their corporate tax to near nothing already BUT personal taxes are a murder Lets say you are a director of startup and the company has€100000 left after costs and taxes etc, lets say as director you want to pay yourself a salary of 100K for your hard work, you be lucky you be left with 50K after income tax, PAYE/PRSI insurance tax and "Universal Social Charge" On the money that you have left you would have to pay for medical insurance (aint free here like UK), VAT of 23% on almost anything you buy (more for cars, less for food etc), new property and water taxes and so on Keep in mind that Ireland gets blamed for alot of this goings on, but its just a step on path large corporations take to move money onto Carribean.

lazyjones 11y ago
That doesn't scare me, it's about the same here in Austria - on top of 25% corporate tax, 25% tax on dividends (capital income).