Tax filing deadline is approaching. Here’s a new video on taxes and debt from The Coffee Party:
11 thoughts on “Taxes & debt: get the facts”
Comments are closed.
Tax filing deadline is approaching. Here’s a new video on taxes and debt from The Coffee Party:
Comments are closed.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
So, where do the corporations get the money to pay the taxes? Consumers.
Raise corporate income taxes, and prices go up to cover it, just like any other cost. Even worse, the corporations pay accountants and tax attorneys — who produce NOTHING — to reduce the taxes they need to pay.
ELIMINATE corporate income taxes completely.
Warren, you show that you have not a clue about running a business and pricing decisions or you would not post such a sophomoric notion. I have and can tell you as matter of fact how wrong you are.
Payroll and unemployment taxes are a cost of doing business as it relates to your personnel costs, yes. Income taxes has not a darn thing about “where the money comes from” and has zero, zip and nada to do with pricing decisions. Corporate income taxes are a result of and not a cause of what someone pays for my widget.
If I can sell my widget for $10 with a COGS of $5 and others costs of $3, I make $2 and pay taxes on that income. If I can sell it for $15, I will and pay taxes on that additional $5 in higher profit. NEVER does the fact that I will have to pay more in taxes if I can sell it for 15 bucks comes into my pricing decision. I would LOVE it more to sell it for $20, if the market allowed, and heaven forbid…. pay even more in taxes!
Again, income taxes are a result of my success in the market and not the cause of my pricing decisions.
If every one of your competitors also has to pay that tax, you will all raise your prices accordingly.
First, Vivian, I thought you were slowing down on the blogging. Isn’t this the 4th in the last two days? Looking to the end of tax season?
Warren, didn’t the Supreme Court recently rule that corporations are effectively the same as individuals for the purposes of free speech? Why shouldn’t they be taxed on their income as individuals are.
Don’t the benefit from the services provided by the state? Examples such as roads, education, police, fire, military.
While in consumers pay the corporate taxes, increase in taxes does not always result in an increase in cost to consumers. The gas tax is an example of how the market will limit that.
Finally, not sure the swipe at accountants on Vivian’s blog is appropriate. There are lots of folks active in the economy who are not producers. In fact, most in the US economy are non-producers.
“Why shouldn’t they be taxed on their income as individuals are.”
Because it is stupid and wasteful to do so. There is the terrible waste of the accountants’ and attorneys’ brainpower on non-productive, and the corporations will pass the costs on the consumer, just as they do any other cost.
Then you have the waste at the IRS going through thousands of pages of tax returns from corporations. Waste.
“Don’t the benefit from the services provided by the state?”
Sure. But corporations are nothing more than collections of individuals. Tax the individuals when the money comes in through dividends. Better yet, just have a sales tax.
Yes, Doug, I’ve slowed considerably. But I have to take a break now and then – just to keep my sanity 😉
As for Warren’s BS comment about producing nothing – well, consider the source. Productivity isn’t a measure of goods produced. If that were the case, most of our economy would be considered non-productive. Real estate agents, for example, don’t produce real estate; they sell a service. By Warren’s logic, you produce nothing.
Whatever. I long ago decided to ignore Warren’s rants.
Well, then, what DOES an tax attorney or tax accountant produce?
The Supreme Court did just decide they were individuals as far as free speech is concerned, but they have been considered individuals for other purposes going as far back as reconstruction when case law made the slavery amendments apply to corporations.
While it’s true that corporations get way too many tax breaks, why not compare the taxes individuals pay to the benefits they get back from the government.
Also, this argument that individuals didn’t cause the recession is total BS. I suppose bankers and traders aren’t people? I suppose that CEO’s aren’t people either? Individuals motivated by greed caused the recession, corporations can’t do anything without people behind it. Those same tax breaks to corporations help plenty of individuals as well who get their paychecks from their corporations or use a corporation instead of a sole proprietorship or partnership for whatever reason.
Take away corporations and you will still have greedy people finding new ways to accomplish the same things. It’s a lack of personal accountability that has gotten us to where we are today, not some legal construct.
I can’t believe I’m linking it but you should check out this article by Cal Thomas that was in this morning’s paper.
Can’t believe he said that but he did.
Wow, I can’t believe he said that either. I would tend to agree as well. When you look at some of the money lost at these big banks and compare it to the bonuses and CEO pay, the numbers are nearly identical in some cases.
The real problem, much bigger than taxes, is the way we look at money. If a train from NYC to Chicago has only 100 tickets for sale, that doesn’t mean that only 100 people can travel. However in our financial/monetary system, that is exactly how things work. Solve that problem and unemployment and taxes ceases to be an issue.
“Finally, not sure the swipe at accountants on Vivian’s blog is appropriate.”
There was no “swipe at accountants” at all. In fact, by biggest beef with corporate taxes is that the tremendous intellect of accountants and tax attorneys is wasted in dealing with taxes. We would all be better off if their talents were used making companies more productive instead of reducing their tax burdens.