Buffett's Doublespeak On Taxes

[AquaMan]

Okay. I'm convinced. Just get rid of all taxes on everybody. But please wait till I can stock a warehouse full of torches, kerosene, bullets and mary jane. I'm gonna be king (of this neighborhood anyway).

[Conan71]

Okay. I'm convinced. Just get rid of all taxes on everybody. But please wait till I can stock a warehouse full of torches, kerosene, bullets and mary jane. I'm gonna be king (of this neighborhood anyway).

Come on over, we are locked and, ahem, loaded here.  You know how to find me. 

[AquaMan]

Its hard to take all this too seriously. I have to keep reminding myself of that. Politics, business and ex-wives always make good conversation.

[nathanm]

I was thinking about corporate taxation as I was drifting off to sleep last night (exciting, I know) and I came up with a modest proposal.

The argument often made against corporate taxation is that it just gets passed through to customers anyway. Ok, I believe you guys. Doesn't the same hold true for their phone bill? I propose that, from this day forward, corporations no longer have to pay utility bills. We will just go ahead and pay their utility bills out of general government revenues. After all, the cost of the utility service is just being passed on to the people anyway. Once everyone has adjusted to that new norm, we can start paying their payroll expenses, their rent, and maybe even compensate them for the cost of capital used in production. After all, those costs are just being passed on to the people anyway. Think how cheap goods will be!

More seriously, I found this article interesting:

http://americawhatwentwrong.org/story/taxes-and-corporations/

If what they claim about Carnival is true, it sounds like we may need to eliminate personal income taxes also, lest the corporate entities end up paying it on behalf of their major shareholders. That just wouldn't be right.

[Red Arrow]

I was thinking about corporate taxation as I was drifting off to sleep last night (exciting, I know) and I came up with a modest proposal.
The argument often made against corporate taxation is that it just gets passed through to customers anyway. Ok, I believe you guys. Doesn't the same hold true for their phone bill? I propose that, from this day forward, corporations no longer have to pay utility bills. We will just go ahead and pay their utility bills out of general government revenues. After all, the cost of the utility service is just being passed on to the people anyway. Once everyone has adjusted to that new norm, we can start paying their payroll expenses, their rent, and maybe even compensate them for the cost of capital used in production. After all, those costs are just being passed on to the people anyway. Think how cheap goods will be!
More seriously, I found this article interesting:
http://americawhatwentwrong.org/story/taxes-and-corporations/
If what they claim about Carnival is true, it sounds like we may need to eliminate personal income taxes also, lest the corporate entities end up paying it on behalf of their major shareholders. That just wouldn't be right.

I prefer to keep business (non-tax) expenses separate and paid for directly by the business.  It provides at least some incentive to keep them to a minimum.

Taxes seem to be following a similar path to minimization when offshore options are considered.  When it's less expensive to pay offshore taxes than US taxes, guess where the money will go.

From the article you link to:

In its most recent filing, Exxon Mobil Corp., the global energy giant, reported  income of $34.8 billion before taxes on total revenue of $310.6 billion for 2009. Its U.S. income tax bill: Zero. Actually, it was a little better than that. Exxon Mobil claimed a tax benefit of $838 million, while it paid $15.8 billion in income taxes to other countries.

However, $15.8 billion is more than 35% (approx 45%) of $34.8 billion so there is something more complex going on. 

Even on an individual level, state income taxes paid to another state are deductible on the Oklahoma State Income Tax.  I didn't check the details but there is a line to subtract from your OK State Income Tax (tax, not income) at least some portion of the tax you paid to another state.  (Form 511-2010, line 16)

[Red Arrow]

"And now, here's something we hope you'll really like":  (from Rocky and Bullwinkle)

First, for any plan to work, we need a federal tax policy that's simple, fair and — to the maximum extent possible — involves someone else's money.

With that principle in mind, like Willie Sutton, that early "corporate raider," we go where the money is. Our national treasure: America's billionaires.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/02/2621843/bonfire-of-the-billionaires.html#storylink=cpy

I found this in today's TW but there are no links to it on the web, even using the TW search on the TW website.