>This is the kind of "food fight" that nobody can win. But there is a BIG >difference between the nominal (35%) corporate tax rate and the amount >of taxes actually paid by most corporations. There are loopholes and >deductions in the tax code that make the "effective" tax rate very much >less than the nominal tax rate.
How did "MS-tastic" become a discussion of tax policy? There was nothing in my original post that could have lead here. As a business owner in "high tax DC" I can confirm that "There are loopholes and deductions in the tax code that make the "effective" tax rate very much less." My tax rate is essentially zero. My business pays no Federal tax. We only pay a 10% DC tax if we elect to retain earnings (which we sometimes do to build up a rainy-day fund). We are under DC's rather high threshold for property tax so that is $zero. As a QHTC (Qualified High Technology Company) we are exempt from sales taxes on tech items, which are the most expensive things we buy. There is a $100/year registration fee for corporations. We were assessed an "arena" fee a few years ago, but I think we were under the threshold for the "stadium" fee. We are charged a fee by the BID (Business Improvement District), which is a bit over $100. If I hired DC residents in certain categories DC would rebate me part of their salaries, but I don't have any positions like that. If I moved my business to certain neighborhoods I would get money from DC too. Is it right for a small business to pay almost no taxes? I think DC's system is very smart and realistic. It is good for DC. Because of DC's progressive tax policies I was able to start a small business with zero capital and lots of personal sweat. I could not have done that in VA with its nutty gross receipts tax. All my employees are DC residents and they pay DC taxes. I pay rent to my landlord who pays lots of taxes. I contribute to the community. I help other business be more successful. DC benefits from my being here. If my business suddenly exploded into high profitability, like Joe the Plumber's, my taxes would go up and I would not complain. I would say that they were fair to me whan I was small and I would be fair to them when I got big. I would hire a tax accountant too. (I recall reading that the effective tax rate for large corporation is below 20%.) Neocons who don't want to pay taxes just want to be freeloaders. They are not patriotic. They are vermin. We have just experienced 8 years of income redistribution. As the productivity of American workers grew, salaries did not. Instead the top crust raked in the rewards. I recently read in the Wall St Journal that one of the hedge fund managers paid himself $4,000,000,000 (yes billion) in 2007. (I wonder how much he paid in taxes?) Things have gotten very much out of balance and that is leading us to ruin. But the top crust still feel they are entitled. They squeal at the thought of rebalancing the economy. "I earn 420 times what you make. That means I'm 420 times smarter." -- Dogbert the CEO ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
