The End of Welfare as We Don't Know It

[John K. Taber]

pms wrote:
> 
> >Tax burdens have been fairly stable over time.  Shares
> >move as income distribution changes, which has been a lot
> >in recent decades.
> >
> 
> Hey Max, what about the corporate tax?  During the eighties(are they really
> over?)I remember reading in one of the left rags that if the corporate tax
> burden was the same as it was in the 50's, it would wipe out TheDeficit.
> 
> I've based a lot of thinking on that.  I think it was probably Dollars and
> Sense.
> 
> pms

One source of company information that amateur stock pickers use is
Value Line, which you can find in your public library. One row of data
is the income tax rate as a percentage of profit.

For most companies that I have seen, the rate is 35-45%. There are
exceptions, and one that I've seen are the pharmaceuticals with income
tax rates of 10-15%. 

On the whole, though, corporations pay a stiffer rate than I do. 

I know that there is a general perception that corporations don't pay
taxes thanks to loopholes, but so far, I have not seen the evidence 
for that.

-- 
I've been able to string more words into fewer ideas than anybody I
know, and I'm continuing to do that.

     - Alan Greenspan to the Senate Budget Committee, Sept 23, 1998