7 ms·

Corporate taxes don't work and taxing the rich is super hard. Could this be a way for the state to suplement tax revenue?

choult 3mo ago
No, not enough money in it. Tax the rich.
- jauntywundrkind 3mo ago
  Just remember Piketty too, Capital in the 21st Century: the purpose is not generate revenue. Taxation's primary purpose is to prevent extreme concentrations of wealth & power, to diffuse the un-democratic dangers hazards and threats.
- tehjoker 3mo ago
  That's confusing. The rich make their money and hold their assets in economically productive (or extractive) enterprises. Land, factories, services, arms, etc are the real storehouses of wealth. If you take that from the rich, they have nothing.
- Auracle 3mo ago
  The rich already pay most of the income tax in our country. We probably have the most progressive tax system in the world.
  - throwawalien 3mo ago
    [flagged]
lantry 3mo ago
It creates a lot of perverse incentives, and is probably a bad idea in the long run. If the govt makes more money when intel is successful, then the govt is incentivized to sabotage Intel's competitors (e.g. through tariffs, export controls, and many other powers). This distorts the free market that is (allegedly) at the center of America's success
- vizzier 3mo ago
  The answer is probably an automatic state in any company over a specific size given to the government. The only competition is then international.
  - nafey 3mo ago
    Reinventing Socialism from first principals
  - smallerfish 3mo ago
    Still perverse incentives. In this case the government is implicitly biased against startups competing against a giant.
  - dibujaron 3mo ago
    I read recently that corporate taxes used to be a lot higher on large conglomerated companies, which used to deter monopolization somewhat. Under this automatic-stake idea, it'd be interesting if the government's stake in corporations increased as they got larger? Companies try to avoid this and so don't combine so much? Of course once the government does have a large stake in the largest monopoly-like companies, it's immensely motivated to keep them large. Hmm. This idea isn't good.
- jazzyjackson 3mo ago
  See also: confessions of an economic hitman, the mysterious affair of Olivetti US government has always had a policy of sabotaging international competition
contagiousflow 3mo ago
> Corporate taxes don't work What does this mean?
- anon7725 3mo ago
  I am not the original commenter, but I interpret it to mean that large corporations can almost always arrange it so that they don't pay tax or don't pay their fair share of tax. 88 companies paid $0 tax on $105B in profit in 2025[0] [0] https://itep.org/88-profitable-corporations-paid-zero-income-tax-in-2025/ https://itep.org/88-profitable-corporations-paid-zero-income...
  - contagiousflow 3mo ago
    I agree that corporate taxes are not working at this time for one specific country. But the claim of "corporate taxes don't work" is much more broad and not something I've seen specific evidence for. My understanding was that historically corporate taxes have been extremely effective, even if those taxes aren't paid the profits of a company are instead redirected as other investments.

choult 3mo ago

No, not enough money in it. Tax the rich.

jauntywundrkind 3mo ago
Just remember Piketty too, Capital in the 21st Century: the purpose is not generate revenue. Taxation's primary purpose is to prevent extreme concentrations of wealth & power, to diffuse the un-democratic dangers hazards and threats.
tehjoker 3mo ago
That's confusing. The rich make their money and hold their assets in economically productive (or extractive) enterprises. Land, factories, services, arms, etc are the real storehouses of wealth. If you take that from the rich, they have nothing.
Auracle 3mo ago
The rich already pay most of the income tax in our country. We probably have the most progressive tax system in the world.
- throwawalien 3mo ago
  [flagged]

lantry 3mo ago

It creates a lot of perverse incentives, and is probably a bad idea in the long run. If the govt makes more money when intel is successful, then the govt is incentivized to sabotage Intel's competitors (e.g. through tariffs, export controls, and many other powers). This distorts the free market that is (allegedly) at the center of America's success

vizzier 3mo ago
The answer is probably an automatic state in any company over a specific size given to the government. The only competition is then international.
- nafey 3mo ago
  Reinventing Socialism from first principals
- smallerfish 3mo ago
  Still perverse incentives. In this case the government is implicitly biased against startups competing against a giant.
- dibujaron 3mo ago
  I read recently that corporate taxes used to be a lot higher on large conglomerated companies, which used to deter monopolization somewhat. Under this automatic-stake idea, it'd be interesting if the government's stake in corporations increased as they got larger? Companies try to avoid this and so don't combine so much? Of course once the government does have a large stake in the largest monopoly-like companies, it's immensely motivated to keep them large. Hmm. This idea isn't good.
jazzyjackson 3mo ago
See also: confessions of an economic hitman, the mysterious affair of Olivetti US government has always had a policy of sabotaging international competition

contagiousflow 3mo ago

> Corporate taxes don't work What does this mean?

anon7725 3mo ago
I am not the original commenter, but I interpret it to mean that large corporations can almost always arrange it so that they don't pay tax or don't pay their fair share of tax. 88 companies paid $0 tax on $105B in profit in 2025[0] [0] https://itep.org/88-profitable-corporations-paid-zero-income-tax-in-2025/ https://itep.org/88-profitable-corporations-paid-zero-income...
- contagiousflow 3mo ago
  I agree that corporate taxes are not working at this time for one specific country. But the claim of "corporate taxes don't work" is much more broad and not something I've seen specific evidence for. My understanding was that historically corporate taxes have been extremely effective, even if those taxes aren't paid the profits of a company are instead redirected as other investments.