Raising the corporate tax rate is about as effective as tariffs. The money they have to spend will just get added into the price and they'll call it "inflation" again. The problem is there is nothing to protect the consumer from rampant capitalism. The middle class has been eroded away, and the lower class loses members to the poverty line every minute. A corporate tax won't fix that. Consumer rights will. Corporate oversight will. We need someone with a backbone in a leadership position, and we keep voting for the bent-spine cocksuckers that only care about the bottom line. It's time to start lining politicians against the wall. It's been a death by inches for decades, and the idea that if we make the corporations pay their fair share we'll somehow fix the problem is the worst kind of delusion. The roots are too deep now to get away with simple pruning.

[–] pennomi@lemmy.world 20 points 6 days ago (17 children)

Corporate tax is much less dangerous than tariffs, assuming you tax profits.

A tariff kills small businesses with low margins. It directly increases the cost of goods sold. I know because I got bit bad by tariffs this year and might have to close the company.

A tax on profits only reduces what you earn AFTER the cost of goods sold. So if you’re in a high margin tech business, great, pay a lot of taxes. If you’re in a low margin side hustle, great, you owe very little.

[+] chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world -7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (16 children)

Profits are often made up numbers. They can be increased to show growth to potential investors and then lowered just as quickly to avoid taxes. Creative bookkeeping happens all of the time. Trump still does it. Taxing corporations makes everyone feel all warm and fuzzy, but at the end of the day we can't get corps to pay the taxes the owe now, what makes anyone think a 300% increase is going to get paid?

Edit: You all are mistaking the idea of taxing the rich with the reality. The idea is all cotton candy and unicorns and every kid gets free school lunch. The reality is exactly what we are living in right now. It's not like the rich have been paying their taxes this whole time and it just isn't enough. They aren't paying the taxes they already owe. You can increase the numbers all you want, but it will only lead to a higher cost of consumer goods and more creative bookkeeping. You have to start differently. You don't start wit the tax. You start with the regulations. You have to have oversight, and you have to have strong leadership. We have neither of those. If you tell your cat not to eat the open can of tuna on the counter and then walk away, the cat is going to eat the tuna. You can't just leave them to their own devices and hope the rules you put in place are followed. When you walk back in and see that the tuna can is empty, its easy to blame the cat, but it doesn't matter because the tuna is already gone. When the taxes aren't getting paid, and there is no one watching the corporations, you can blame the rich all you like, but it doesn't matter because that money isn't getting paid if no one is watching them. Oversight. Regulations. That is how you bring the rich back down to earth. You don't start at the end and hope the rest just fills itself in. But, please, keep downvoting.

[–] BeNotAfraid@lemmy.world 12 points 6 days ago

The only way we fail is by not trying. The rich want you to believe it is impossible to tax them, it is not.

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