The fantasy of the ‘business tax’

Texas Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden calls our $15+ billion deficit a “structural deficit”. To fix it, we should raise business taxes in order to collect an additional $2+ billion annually.

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Here’s the problem: There is no such thing as a business tax. It’s YOUR tax.

Business 101: Profit is the difference between income and expenses (revenue minus cost). In order to remain in business, a company must make a profit. (Assuming they don’t buy a few prostiticians to pass favorable tax deduction legislation and/or kick back “bailout” money.)

When expenses go up, businesses raise prices to maintain a profit margin. Since you buy the goods and services produced and/or sold by these businesses, the tax falls upon you. Your expenses go up, but if you live on a fixed income–e.g. wage, salary, pension–you cannot pass this expense along like business (or government). Therefore, you have to start making choices like: Do I feed my family or do we take a vacation this year?

The “business tax” dodge sounds and feels great at first blush: Regular taxpayers get something for nothing, while the greedy, evil businessmen get their comeuppance. You’re just getting played so you’ll accept higher taxes.

Call your legislators and tell them you don’t want a tax increase.

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