In his piece on the corporate income tax, Sheldon Richman cites work by JLF’s Roy Cordato. Here’s a sample:
The corporate tax has another serious problem: it constitutes double and even triple taxation, which hardly seems fair. Cordato notes that corporation employees and consumers, who pay individual income taxes, have their incomes reduced again by the government to the extent the corporate tax reduces wages and increases prices. And shareholders are hit three times, as Cordato explains:
First, when any income is taxed, the tax by definition reduces the potential income stream — interest, dividends, and capital gains — that the income can generate. Second, dividends and capital gains are reduced further by the corporate income tax. And third, when dividends and capital gains are finally earned, they are taxed as part of the investor’s personal income.
Richman’s research brief is published on the website of the American Institute for Economic Research, found here.
Bonus link: Be sure to read Roy Cordato’s piece about North Carolina’s ill-advised practice of taxing goods that are inputs into the production process. You’ll find it here.
