I know that sounds just so right wing. Donald Trump anyone? How about if was in fact left wing and progressive? When you have a tax that hits everyone equally, it is considered regressive. A progressive tax is one that increases as your ability to pay increase. So rich people pay more and poor people pay less. Corporate tax on profit is paid for by the buyer equally. Since a corporation has no independent way to raise money except from their clients, those clients are in effect paying for their taxes the corporation will pay on profits. If remove that tax, then in an ideal world the price of goods should drop. It most likely won’t as corporations would instead merely increase the amount of profit they take home.  And I think that is also an equally good idea. Taxes that corporation pay are usually in the none existent, they find loopholes or tax avoidance schemes to fraud or outright bribery of government officials in order to avoid paying any sort of taxes to begin with. So let’s get rid of this sham anyways.

With the extra cash, they might create more jobs. Ok let’s pause while we laugh with cynical realism at that so often boasted claim that turns out to be a fictional use of the language bordering on outright lies. They can re-invest those profits into research and development. Which I will assert is a good thing. Since they won’t have to fake R&D to avoid paying taxes, the result may be some real progress and real developments that will provide additional resources for the company to make even more money and hence real job growth potential. The other two ways are buying back stock, or providing it to shareholders as dividends or paying executives. I see both as ways to tax that money back properly. First, stock; which are on average held for a grand total time of 23 second before being sold off. This churning makes some people money using computers to buy and sell. The marginal gains on fractions of pennies over millions of shares can yield small but significant profits. If all sells are taxed at a small rate of 2% for the federal government and 1% to the province, real tax revenue would be gains. Simple enough to see, all those profits made on Wall Street and Bay Street is from a surcharge of 1.5% on every sale. They make lots of money, so too should the government collect. Also, since most poor people don’t buy significant amounts of shares, the purchase will not adversely affect the middle class or the poor. The cash dividend tax rate is paid for at the rate of 33% but subject to modifications from other tax breaks. Since there is no longer a corporate tax, all dividends are to be taxed at 50% at source and not subject to refund. In other words, you money is gone when you get the cash.

This leaves me with two additional points. CEO’s make an unholy amount of money, very little in the form of cash but the vast majority in stock in their pay package. They get billions in stock. This practise has to stop. All shares are to be granted in the form of cash and taxed at the 50% rate. As well, it will be part of the financial fillings, in case it is not, that all such salaries are quoted in cash so stock holders, even unsophisticated investors can see just how much the CEO is taking from their bottom line.

Lastly, without the need to lower tax rates, corporations might be tempted to stop sponsoring charities and sporting events. After all, they don’t get the tax break they used to. Fortunately, I rather doubt they do give away money in an effort to be good corporate citizens. They do it from the advertisement and the tax breaks. I know so young and yet so cynical. They will still sponsor those charities, perhaps not as much, but they still will continue to give. Why? Because it is a form of free advertising and being seen as a bad corporate citizen or worse greedy would harm their bottom line where they make profits from to begin with.

I think this will clean up the tax act, and greatly increase tax revenue. By fairly taxing the people making the money, not the corporations who are just too good at hiding it from the taxman, we get our, society as a whole, fair share of taxes from the rich. This would make the tax progressive, and fair as only the very rich would be paying such taxes on traded stock and dividends.