While writing the previous post about the ongoing search for a decent fish fry, a thought occurred to me.
Whenever someone from the left points out that part of the problem with the taxes in Wisconsin is the fact that the businesses aren't paying their share of the burden, someone from the right would argue that they would only pass that tax along to the consumer by raising their prices.
That is a straw man argument. Look at the fish fry business. The cost of fresh fish went sky high. Serb Hall decided to pass that cost along to the customer, and their business has dropped dramatically. Other restaurants chose to either eat the cost, or only pass on part of the cost, and they're still doing a considerable amount of business.
So if a company wants to pass the cost of higher taxes on, let them try. There will be other companies that won't, or at least not to the same degree. If they want to lose customers to the smarter business, that is their choice.
And at least this way, the customer will have a choice on who gets his or her business. That option isn't available under the conservatives' way, when everyone gets hit by having their taxes go up.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
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Here's the problem with corporate taxes:
ReplyDelete1.) Private corporations just spend out all the profit leaving nothing to tax. (It's not only legal, it's what accounts tell you to do).
2.) Public companies are always large enough to just pick up and move if they don't like your tax climate (taking their jobs with them.)
Hey Elliot, why would they want to move to another state when most of them have higher corporate taxes than Wisconsin? So you are telling us Wal-Mart would close all of their stores because we took our corporate taxes to parity?
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, if other states are having no trouble collecting the corporate taxes so that their income/property taxes are lower, why would Wisconsin have any problem doing the same?
Apparently you enjoy having your family pay the extra $2,000 a year in taxes so that the members of the WMC don't have to.
Elliot, to be more precise, a privately-held business "spends out" its profits (aside from investing in the business) by paying them to the owner(s).
ReplyDeleteThe owners THEN pay individual-rate Wisconsin income tax on the income (and Federal individual-rate taxes, as well.)
Publicly-held corporations pay dividends after they pay Federal taxes (if there is sufficient profit after investments, accruals, etc.)--and the dividend payments are taxed at Fed and State rates as income to the shareholders.
One other thing that the Left forgets is that businesses DO pay property taxes through their lease- or rental-payments.
As to the cost of fishies, Capper--you found that, yes, indeed, organizations DO pass along cost-increases. Sometimes they lose business as a result.
You think that tax costs will NOT be passed along? Your example proves exactly what you are trying to dis-prove.
Dad,
ReplyDeleteI never said that I didn't think the companies would pass the taxes on through their prices. The point I was making is that we have the ability to have more control on how much they want to stick us with it.
Like with the fishies, my family chose to leave Serb Hall, who passed the whole thing on. If worse comes to worse, we can also decide not to patronize any restaurant. But as you on the right are so fond of pointing out, taxes are arbitrary.
Yes, 'we can control....'
ReplyDeleteAnd when the Tax Scheme has reduced enterprise to an oligopoly, or a duopoly, or a monopoly, with high prices AND lousy service, you will have re-created all the shitty effects of Government!