Would you be in favor of substituting high marginal income tax rates for corporate taxes?

[harry_pothead]

I was talking to my friend at the SF Young Dems meeting a couple nights ago, and I mentioned restructuring corporate taxes to reward businesses for employing many Americans with good wages and benefits and penalize those that don't.

He responded that you could do that by reducing corporate taxes, but in exchange dramatically increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals who earn a ridiculous amount of money (like the 80%+ rate we had in the 50s). If structured correctly, the government's overall revenues would remain the same, but the tax would target the boardrooms and CEOs of major companies rather than the companies as a whole. It would encourage corporations to spend more money on development and hiring more workers with decent wages rather than spending that money on lavish CEO and boardroom bonuses, since companies that do the latter under this tax system would be paying a massively higher overall tax burden. It would also help small businesses, since they aren't paying ludicrous executive bonuses.

He said it would be difficult to get through congress because progressives would be against cutting the corporate tax and conservatives would be against raising the income on the very wealthy. As a progressive, I like the idea for it resulting in what in effect would be a much more progressive tax. I also like the fact that it shifts much of the tax burden from small businesses to CEOs and trust-funders as small business owners pay alot more in wages and benefits relative to the owner's personal income than do major corporate executives or trust-funders.

So what do you think?

[wtbymark]

1. return both tax structures to pre-Reagan levels

and we wouldn't have a deficit

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Return Them To Eisenhower Levels

The wealthiest Americans paid 50% in federal taxes under Eisenhower (and a Republican Congress) vs. 17% now.

The middle class now pays 30%+ - I think it was less than 10% under Eisenhower, I forgot the exact figure.

[valerief]

3. Don't they send their money offshore either way? nt