What they say here is absolutely true:
Unfortunately it’s said in a manner which deliberately misleads. Meaning that it’s fair – because deliberate – to call them lying bastards.
Corporate tax breaks have helped business owners amass inconceivable amounts of money over the past few decades. Meanwhile, middle-class Americans have footed the bill, as Congress has propped up the budget by raising taxes on wages.
No. They are there measuring the corporate income tax. Which is paid by C corporations and only by C corporations.
There is also another type of corporation, the S. Which pays the individual income tax. Which is not included there in their number for the corporate income tax.
Guess what? Fully half the American economy has moved from being a C to an S corporation over the past few decades. Which is why the revenue from the corporate income tax has fallen – but not, necessarily, the tax revenue from the profits of corporations.
Among economists who study taxation this is well known. That would include Mssrs. Saez and Zucman. I don’t, in the least, consider them to be either stupid or ignorant.
But they’re dissimulating in order to mislead – that is, they’re lying bastards.
Surely it is highly desireable for taxation to move from corporations to individuals? If a corporation is taxed, it puts up the prices of what it sells, so people pay more. If people are taxed, the tax is the same but taken directly from the people. And this allows the tax to be progressive. If tha tax is effectively collected through higher prices it is very difficult to avoid everyone paying the same rate.
Yes, when a corporation is taxed, we have no idea who ultimately pays the tax. No, there is nothing “progressive” about punishing high achievement. Yes, it would be fairest if everyone paid the same rate, though fatal to your demagoguery.
It’s a fallacy that corporations pay tax. We all collect tax. But the cost., the incidence, all that tax we collect falls entirely on some combination of owners, employees and customers. Denying this is the Big Lie told by lying bastards like Saez and Zucman.
I have never encountered a revenue stream that was “inconceivable.” Large amounts of money I have not only been able to conceive but understand how the amount retained relates to the amount touched, and why. You would not say “inconceivable” unless you were suggesting your audience approach it not with analysis but outrage.