...[Corporate taxation] is an awful way to raise revenue. It pales in comparison ($219 million) to either the personal income or sales tax; each of which raises over $2 billion a year in South Carolina. A corporation with a breathing accountant can reduce its tax liability to almost zero. Articulate a rationale for the tax or get rid of it.
But articulating a rationale for the state corporate income is difficult. Do we tax corporate income because we need the money? It does not raise a lot of money, particularly in South Carolina. Do we tax corporate income because we want to make corporations pay for services they use? If that were so, states like South Carolina would not use a double weighted sales factor formula. Do we impose the tax to skewer the rich? Some folks believe the tax helps alleviate the overall regressivity of the system. But that assumes that the burden falls on fat cat shareholders in the form of lower returns. There are people who believe that the burdens fall on consumers in the form of higher prices or labor in the form of lower wages. The surest way to ease regressivity is to increase personal income taxes on the wealthy and lower the tax on everyone else. But at the end of the day, no one seems to be able to say why we impose this tax. And maybe Governor Haley is on to something.
Hört det förr??
Jag skulle vilja se Företagsskattekommittén articulate the rationale.
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