Corporations and their tax payments distract the full attention the citizens deserve from their governments

Sir, I refer to John Plender’s “A strange aversion to corporate tax” January 4. I have an aversion to corporate taxes that is not duly reflected there.

In my homeland Venezuela the government gets directly 97 percent of all exports and, when oil prices are high, we citizens become almost a nuisance to those in charge of administrating such revenues… only when oil prices are low do they begin to remember us.

As a result I have held that the ideal tax system is that in which the government gets all of its income directly from identified citizens… not anonymous sales taxes, and that makes me to have an aversion to corporate taxes too. The corporations, with their often very high profits equally, quite often, constitute a distraction that hinders the governments to give full attention to us citizens.

100 percent citizens based tax system, true tax heavens, would also be the best way to diminish the needs for tax havens.

http://perkurowski.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-tax-paradise.html

@PerKurowski ©

The problem is that regulators, behind our backs, empowered an AAArisktocracy to have special access to bank credit.

If we tax and redistribute all wealth, what shall we do the morning after the party? That question, which could be asked to Piketty, is similar in nature to the question we could make to John Plender, “The corporate aristocracy holding out against fiscal revolution” March 3.

Mr. Plender After getting rid of all that corporate cash by paying dividends, by paying taxes or by building private bridges to nowhere, then what?

Also, all that cash is not just forgotten cash lying under a mattress. Plender himself even mentions that “the corporate sector… in several big economies… now acts as a net lender to governments” which means, that the government already uses those funds, perhaps even paying negative interest rates on these.

Current regulations do not allow bank credit to flow in a fair way to those “smaller companies, which innovate and create jobs”, only because they are perceived as “risky”. That is why the liquidity coming from QEs is trapped, and blows bubbles around already existing assets. But Plender, like many others, just does not want to see this…I wonder why?

What “corporate aristocracy”, what we have is an AAArisktocracy that has been appointed by regulators as those who really merit bank credit.

PS. I have for many years argued that when corporations pay taxes, they dilute the citizens’ tax representation. And that is why when Plender writes that in the US corporate taxes were down to 1.6 percent by 2013, my first impulse would be, bring it down to zero now and save yourselves a lot of expensive economic and political distortions.

PS. Also, as a shareholder, in these times of possible extreme volatility, I do not like to hold shares in any company that has not hoarded ample reserves of cash… to fend off threats or to capitalize on opportunities

Corporations are not part of the community... and should not be allowed to dilute citizens´ tax representation

Sir, Michael Skapinker holds that “Business has lost its place in the community” August 14, and frankly I wonder if business ever had a place in the community. I mean, when a corporation does good things for the community, that is not really out of a sense for the community but because it is building up its image… a sort of clever advertising expense.

No, communities should be about people, and in this respect the tax on corporations should be 0%, because corporations should never have the possibility to dilute the tax representation of the citizens. In other words it is for the owners of the corporations to have a sense of community.

And with respect to Skapinker´s comments on bankers and their manipulations I agree…slap them hard on their fingers. But, Skapinker should not ignore that the manipulation of how bank credit is allocated in the real economy, performed by regulators with their risk-weighted capital requirements for banks, has been and is much more harmful for the society than any of the other bank manipulations currently spoken of… and in this respect Mark Carney´s behavior, as the current chairman of the Financial Stability Board, is “highly reprehensible” too.

http://perkurowski.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-tax-paradise.html

Democracy goes way beyond the 1% vs. the 99% debate.

Sir, I agree in much with what Edward Luce puts forward in his “America’s democracy is fit for the 1 percent” March 31 but, the issue of undue influence in a democracy, goes much further than the simplistic 1% vs. the 99% debate.

For instance I hold the view that corporate taxes should be zero, since only citizens should be able to wield the influence of paying government bureaucrats their salaries.

And also that 1% too often seems to imply that all those in the 1%, like in the 99%, are alike which we know they aren’t. For instance you would not want to tax the wealthy in order to further benefit the oligarchy, or do you?

To reduce tax dodging, and strengthen democracy, do a full Monty and eliminate corporate taxes altogether.

Sir, John Kay is entirely correct arguing that existent corporate taxation, among other in the G8 has many serious flaws, and so “Don’t blame the havens – tax dodging is everyone else’s fault” June 19. And he presents many well reasoned ideas on how the corporate tax structure could be improved… but perhaps in this case the good might be the enemy of the perfect.

I would instead dare John Kay to think about a full Monty, and eliminate corporate taxes altogether, not only because these all will, sooner or later, at the end of the day, one way or another, end up being paid by citizens, but without allowing for the full tax representation they should have. A zero corporate tax would not only help reduce tax-dodging, but it would also help to strengthen democracy, as less would come between the citizens and their governments.

G8, scrap all corporate tax, it only dilutes the citizen’s tax representation.

Sir, in all discussions about corporate taxes, like your editorial “The world needs global tax reform”, June 17, it amazes me how it is ignored that, sooner or later, at the end of the day, one way or another, all corporate taxes end up being paid by citizens, but in this case without the representation that tax payment should have awarded them with.

Corporate taxes stimulate politicians and corporations to negotiate in all coziness, leaving the citizens out of it.

The easiest, most efficient and best way to reform taxes on a global basis, is a zero corporate tax.

And of course there are hundreds of ways to tax citizens so as to make up for that fiscal income shortfall.

Limit how much of annual payments to a banker are tax-deductible expenses

Sir, at the end of the day, somewhere somehow, one bank customer is going to pay for what the banks pay in tax. And so, if you want real transparency, eliminate the taxes on banks, because whoever really ends up paying these should have his full tax representation.

The way you go at it in “Let the sun in on banks’ tax affairs”, February 21, and like so many others go at it, unnecessarily make the banks stand out as villains; and, the publication of “how profits and corporate profits are allocated across countries”, would also unnecessarily breed animosity between the citizens of the world.

But that said, if you cannot do anything about it, because politicians like taxing banks so that they can be lobbied by banks, then at least help to eliminate some distortions. For instance any payments in salaries plus bonuses to any individual banker that exceeds more than £300.000 per year should not be allowed as a tax deductable expense. That would help to cap those banker bonuses in a way that creates much less distortions than other proposals we have read.

PS. Tax-havens are best fought with tax-heavens

Down with all corporate taxes, these only dilute the citizen’s tax representation.

Sir, I refer to Mr. George Osborne’s, Mr. Pierre Moscovici’s and Wolfgang Schäuble’s “We are determined that multinationals will not avoidtaxes” February 16, and which unfortunately does not seem to imply that the “smaller businesses paying up to 30 per cent” will now be able to pay the 5 per cent the authors indicate multinational pay. 

Yet all corporate taxes will, no doubt, at the end of the day, one way or another, be paid by a citizen somewhere. And therefore that citizen’s payment will occur without the governments being held accountable to that citizen, allowing instead that citizen’s tax-paying-representation powers to be exercised by the corporations. 

Also, since the final real bill for a corporation’s tax might hit someone earning or having absolutely nothing, these corporate taxes can de facto also be extremely regressive. 

I therefore hope the ensuing discussions and determination of this powerful trio, gets to be oriented toward lowering or better yet eliminating all corporate taxes. Of course, a zero corporate tax would imply that all investment income had to be taxed at the same level as all other income. 

Down with corporate taxes! The only ones who should have the right to cover for a government expenses are the citizens, and that right should not be diluted in any way. 

PS. This is not the moment, but if you have time, I would like to refer you to My Tax Paradise, because nothing is more powerful against sinful tax-havens than a virtuous tax heaven.

Corporate taxes only dilute citizens' tax representation

Sir, I come from an oil-cursed nation where when there is an oil boom, our government becomes almost independently wealthy, and we the citizens become almost a nuisance to it, except for during Election Day, and this even though that oil income rightfully belongs to us. And in many ways something similar happens with corporate taxes. 

All corporate taxes will, no doubt, at the end of the day, one way or another, be paid by a citizen somewhere, most probably in a very regressive way. And that citizen payment will occur without the governments being held accountable to the citizen, allowing instead the citizen’s tax-paying-representation powers to be exercised by the corporations. 

Therefore, when I read well argued articles like John Gapper’s “Politicians should stop posturing on corporate tax” January 31, I can only sadly conclude thinking “what brilliant distractions the politicians sponsor in order to keep us citizens away” so as to be allowed to be lobbied, in petit committee, by corporate interests. 

Also, when corporations pay taxes on behalf of the not so blissfully ignorant citizens, this can quite often be an extremely regressive taxation, since the final tax bill might hit, one way or another, someone earning absolutely nothing. 

Of course, a zero corporate tax would imply that all investment income had to be taxed at the same level as all other income. 

And so… down with corporate taxes! The only ones who have the right to cover for a government expenses are the citizens and that right should not be diluted in any way. 

PS. This is not the moment, but if you have time, I would refer you to My Tax Paradise.