Amanda Schneider
IE 2311-003
Due 28 April 2014
If Corporations Were People Corporations and businesses are the backbone of the American economy. They stimulate jobs and bring in a large amount of the income for the United States. Yet, corporations are not being taxed even relatively close to the people. The government has massively decreased the amount of income taxes that corporations have paid in the last fifty years, while keeping the people’s amount the same. Corporations should be taxed equal to the people when it comes to income taxes. One of the major reasons I believe corporation should be taxed equal to people is because when you take away the taxes for corporations, the people end up having to compensate for the money lost out of the federal revenue. The article says that “for most of the 1950s, corporate income at large companies was taxed at 52 percent… [and] the federal government collected about a third of its revenues from this source.” However, when the tax rate was changed to 35 percent, “the corporate-tax share of federal revenue has fallen to about 9 percent.” While the corporation taxes have fallen in the last year, person income taxes have remained at 45 percent of the federal revenue. If the federal government expects to make the same income each year, then something or somebody is going to have to compensate for the extra forty-one percent that corporations are no longer contributing. I think that corporations already have enough loopholes that they do not need to have their income taxes lowered. Like the article said, corporations are moving their money offshore and doing untaxable business overseas to avoid paying taxes on all of their income. It’s just like how rich people will pay money to someone who will find all of the deductions for them so they do not have to pay as much taxes. Also, businesses are able to depreciate many of their purchases and assets so that their taxable income will be lower. I think the money that is capable of being taxed should be taxed at the same rate as personal taxes. The tax bracket was made in a way that is seen as fair and equal in the eyes