Romneys Tax Returns

[matclone]

Dividends and capital gains are not necessarily the same thing. Dividends are from corporate profits in proportion to your ownership. Capital gains can come from many different things, such as securities increasing in value, or your home increasing in value. I was being very specific about dividends for a reason.

Okay, substitute "dividends" for "capital gains". My point remains the same.

I like how you decry the "double taxation" of investors, who contribute only their money to the corporation, but not of the workers who contribute their sweat and skills.

[Conway]

The workers weren't double taxed or I would decry this too. I have previously decried the whole FICA tax system of hidden government taxes on wages, but this is also different. Employee wages are part of costs, not profits, and therefore not taxed by the government before disbursement. I would be in favor of increase the taxation on dividends to whatever the standard corporate tax rate is, and dropping corporate taxes to zero.

[matclone]

Like I said earlier, take your plea to the American people. Those poor corporations and their investors. Life in the boardroom is so unfair.

[Conway]

I don't discount your opinion, I am just debating the facts. It was someone else who said double taxation was a myth, I argued it isn't. Arguing whether this should or should not be the case is an entirely different thing.

[bowdirk]

So... If a company pays no taxes, but does pay a dividend... Would you say that was double taxation?

[Conway]

No.

[bowdirk]

So then whether or not dividends would be taxable to the recipient would be based on whether or not the corporation had taxable income? That would be an administrative nightmare...

[Conway]

Easy answer - don't tax corporate profits. The dividends would be taxed on the recipient end as income. Corporations can't really share profits they don't have.

[synchronicity]

Easy answer - don't tax corporate profits. The dividends would be taxed on the recipient end as income. Corporations can't really share profits they don't have.

IIRC, Germany has a system (or "had", they might have changed it) where corporations were allowed to deduct dividends distributed from taxable income. So that's another way to do it.

[Conway]

Yep