The 57,000 Page Tax Return
22nd November 2011
Consider the resources that GE spends to lowers its tax bill, not just the many millions spent on clever accounting and accountants and the many millions spent on lobbying but also the many inefficient ways that GE structures its businesses just to avoid paying taxes and the many millions it invests in socially wasteful projects just in order to produce privately valuable tax credits. Now add to that the allocational inefficiencies of taxing some firms at different rates than others and you have a corporate tax system which wastes a lot of resources and raises relatively little revenue. Indeed, a corporate tax system with a tax rate of zero could well be preferable as it would waste fewer resources and raise not much less revenue.
And consider that this same throw-money-at-the-problem system exists for people like, oh, say, Warren Buffett — which is why one always hears a sniggering sound in the background as he loudly claims that his taxes aren’t high enough.
November 22nd, 2011 at 15:49
I can either do something useful or share some quotes:
Any tax is a discouragement and therefore a regulation so far as it goes. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Question: ” I understand that Congress is considering a so-called ‘flat’ tax system. How would this work?” Answer: “If Congress were to pass a ‘flat’ tax, you’d simply pay a fixed percentage of your income, and you wouldn’t have to fill out any complicated forms, and there would be no loopholes for politically connected groups, and normal people would actually understand the tax laws, and giant talking broccoli stalks would come around and mow your lawn for free, because Congress is NOT going to pass a flat tax, you pathetic fool.” ~Dave Barry