Quote Originally Posted by Hobbit View Post
They don't pay tax anyway. They collect tax. Only wealth can be taxed. Corporations do not accumulate wealth. Any wealth they get that doesn't go right out the door in expansion is paid to workers and shareholders. You can't short shareholders, as that's the fastest way to watch your business burn, so any corporate income tax is instead paid for by either wage decreases or price increases. Corporations don't pay corporate income tax. You do.

It is, in fact, one of the most brilliant scams the government has come up with. How else would you ever get hordes of rabid people demanding to be taxed more?
Ah I get the point. How about this: a corporation is a legal entity, a "person" in the eyes of the law. It earns profits over and above its operating expenses. This legal "person" owes a share of the profits to investors who might be human beings or other corporate entities such as institutional investors. The corporation, which gets immense benefit out of being given the status of a person under law, pays tax as required, it then distributes the rest of the money among its shareholders.

As for consumers paying corporate tax for them - true, all costs are usually passed on to the consumer by corporations, what a great facility that is for the corporation. But at least it's distributed and at least we choose whether or not to buy from a particular corporation.