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Corporate tax does not make sense because "income" and "profit" for a company are very loosely defined. Instead, a simple GST on products and services should be

Corporate tax does not make sense because "income" and "profit" for a company are very loosely defined. Instead, a simple GST on products and services should be enough. Unambiguous and easy to reason about, with very less maneuverability to avoid. In fact, I would rather income tax for individuals also be done away with. Just tax every transaction in the market. That is much fairer and presents less avenues to avoid tax.

markvdb 5y ago
A simple tax like that on its own is also socially regressive. Implemented on its own, people would go hungry, causing social unrest. What would you suggest as a simple social stabiliser on top? A negative personal income tax up to a certain rate?
- perryizgr8 5y ago
  > Implemented on its own, people would go hungry, causing social unrest. Why would that happen?
  - dlp211 5y ago
    Because the poor and working class spend all their money on necessities and in doing so incur higher effective transaction taxes relative to their income.
    - IneffablePigeon 5y ago
      Does differential tax rates on necessities Vs luxuries help here? For example, in the UK, sales tax is discounted or not applied on many types of food, children's clothes, etc. - yes, you end up with strange arguments at the edges (a famous one being the lawsuit to decide whether Jaffa Cakes are legally cakes or biscuits) but I think it _could_ work.
      - perryizgr8 5y ago
        > lawsuit to decide whether Jaffa Cakes are legally cakes or biscuits We had a lawsuit to determine if KitKat is a chocolate or a biscuit for similar reasons: https://www.businessinsider.in/KitKat-is-a-biscuit-and-Parachute-Coconut-oil-is-edible-Thats-the-new-topic-for-GST-debate/articleshow/57824616.cms https://www.businessinsider.in/KitKat-is-a-biscuit-and-Parac... > In the case of Nestle India Ltd Vs Commissioner of Central Excise, Mumbai of 1999, it was ruled that KitKat is a biscuit and not a chocolate that is taxed high.
KirillPanov 5y ago
> Corporate tax does not make sense because "income" and "profit" for a company are very loosely defined. Yes, the verbiage used by the IRS is awful; they use the term "income tax" to describe both the "personal revenue tax" and the "corporate profit tax". Unfortunately they're stuck with it because the 16th amendment uses (but does not define) the term "income". So if they call the thing that they're taxing anything other than "income", they have to deal with a bunch of clowns arguing that they aren't allowed to tax that.

markvdb 5y ago

A simple tax like that on its own is also socially regressive. Implemented on its own, people would go hungry, causing social unrest. What would you suggest as a simple social stabiliser on top? A negative personal income tax up to a certain rate?

perryizgr8 5y ago
> Implemented on its own, people would go hungry, causing social unrest. Why would that happen?
- dlp211 5y ago
  Because the poor and working class spend all their money on necessities and in doing so incur higher effective transaction taxes relative to their income.
  - IneffablePigeon 5y ago
    Does differential tax rates on necessities Vs luxuries help here? For example, in the UK, sales tax is discounted or not applied on many types of food, children's clothes, etc. - yes, you end up with strange arguments at the edges (a famous one being the lawsuit to decide whether Jaffa Cakes are legally cakes or biscuits) but I think it _could_ work.
    - perryizgr8 5y ago
      > lawsuit to decide whether Jaffa Cakes are legally cakes or biscuits We had a lawsuit to determine if KitKat is a chocolate or a biscuit for similar reasons: https://www.businessinsider.in/KitKat-is-a-biscuit-and-Parachute-Coconut-oil-is-edible-Thats-the-new-topic-for-GST-debate/articleshow/57824616.cms https://www.businessinsider.in/KitKat-is-a-biscuit-and-Parac... > In the case of Nestle India Ltd Vs Commissioner of Central Excise, Mumbai of 1999, it was ruled that KitKat is a biscuit and not a chocolate that is taxed high.

KirillPanov 5y ago

> Corporate tax does not make sense because "income" and "profit" for a company are very loosely defined. Yes, the verbiage used by the IRS is awful; they use the term "income tax" to describe both the "personal revenue tax" and the "corporate profit tax". Unfortunately they're stuck with it because the 16th amendment uses (but does not define) the term "income". So if they call the thing that they're taxing anything other than "income", they have to deal with a bunch of clowns arguing that they aren't allowed to tax that.