Discussion for article #235329
What should we pay stockholders/owners, then?
I agree with limiting the spread between the richest employees and the poorest. But that should be a mandate. The corporate tax is a separate issue and it should be a flat 5% of unadjusted gross revenue, regardless of profit or loss and with no deductions or exceptions. There should be no such thing as a tax exempt organization. Not even a church or a union.
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If you could do something like this without seeing it horrifically gamed, it might work. But first think how well companies do at gaming the current tax code.
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I applaud the sentiment, but, as the other commenters have pointed out, this will inevitably be gamed. What I would do is simple-make all corporations chapter S pass-through entities, All profits not re-invested in the business would pass through as income to the shareholders in proportion to the number of shares they own. These profits would appear as income on their personal returns and they would pay taxes at the rate determined by their overall income.
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i agree with others who pointed out that this idea, too, will be gamed.
“So what is to be done? Proposals from the left often emphasize boosting taxes at the top end of the income ladder, which is next to impossible politically.”
that last part is the key. what makes these ideas politically impossible is that our elections have been purchased by the rich. if everyone had just one vote and money wasn’t speech it would be possible. we need publicly funded campaigns. nothing will significantly change until that happens.