Name:   copperline - Subject:   Greatest Political Victory in History Date:   6/18/2016 10:21:41 AM

There is no argument that my depth of knowledge about tax policy is pretty shallow.   However, I was thinking that corporations do pay taxes... and engage in exhaustive efforts to avoid paying taxes.   You might argue that they do this in order to keep the costs of their products low, but you could also point to the huge discrepancy between the salaries of their employees and the compensation of their executives to say that the profits aren't always put to use in keeping prices down.    Given the choice between raising prices or decreasing executive compensation, which do you think a good exec should choose? 

The astronomical bonuses, annual salaries, etc of ultra large corporations & hedge fund managers might also be what happens when corporations get favorable tax treatment.

It's a balancing act, for sure.   Conservatives err on the side of not putting too much tax-burden on corporations because they believe it will inpede growth & jobs.   Progressives would err on the side of making sure that corporations use some of their profits for the good of society in general, and not just super-high incomes for their upper crust of executives.   

Then there is the argument that collected tax dollars do create jobs when used for things like education funding & infrastructure development, whereas excess profits are kept in-house by corporations ... to be used to grow only their narrow part of the economy.