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Zerotan t1_iw9oq72 wrote

Reply to comment by pattydickens in Canada's Ontario to extend gas, fuel tax cut for a year by davidlee93

It's a fine principle, but not effective. You can't tax "profits" because they will find ways to move money around so that they have "zero profit", paying shell companies for consulting services, etc.

Further, taxing a corporation for their income, or taxing the consumer purchasing the good they sell is effectively the same; both cause the corporation to raise their price by the same amount and both cause money to be taken out of the transaction and sent to the government.

RIP cap and trade... https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-officially-ends-cap-and-trade-1.4885872

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Dmage22 t1_iwbyv1k wrote

Can we tax their revenue instead of profit ?

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Alienteacher t1_iwdx79l wrote

It would result in the same thing as op just said. They would adjust prices to compensate to keep their profit margins similar. The only way to force their hand is to take a measure of control of the company itself. Force it to set a limit on price in relation to CPI, have windfall tax on profits that far exceed what they make, have quotas for refined oil they can process/sell

The govt would have to basically control the price and quantity. This is real Socialism. But outside of that there is no real way to force companies to pay their 'fair share' in a capitalist system

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Dmage22 t1_iwdy6gr wrote

Even if they adjust price to maintain profits, taxing their revenue actually generate income for the government to spend on things. They can do shady tax avoidance to pay 0% tax if we only tax profit.

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Alienteacher t1_iwe2vuk wrote

How can you establish an effective tax on revenue when business expenses vary so widely? And if a business increases it's expenses through nonsense like 'consulting fees' it will artificially increase their expenses

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