Corporate Tax Law

	Income Tax		Corporate Income Tax		Payroll Tax		Consumption Tax

All corporations in the United States and Canada must pay tax on their net income (profits) to the federal government and also to most state or provincial governments. U.S. corporate tax rates generally increase with income. For example, in 1997 corporations with profits of up to $50,000 paid 15 percent in taxes, whereas corporations with profits greater than about $18.3 million were taxed at a flat rate of 35 percent. In Canada the basic rate for corporations was 38 percent in 1996. In 1994 corporate income taxes accounted for about 9 percent of all tax revenues in the United States and about 6.5 percent of all tax revenues in Canada.

The corporate income tax is one of the most controversial types of taxes. Although the law treats corporations as if they have an independent ability to pay a tax, many economists note that only real people-such as the shareholders who own corporations-can bear a tax burden. In addition, the corporate income tax leads to double taxation of corporate income. Income is taxed once when it is earned by the corporation, and a second time when it is paid out to shareholders in the form of dividends. Thus, corporate income faces a higher tax burden than income earned by individuals or by other types of businesses.

Some economists have proposed abolishing the corporate income tax and instead taxing the owners of corporations (shareholders) through the personal income tax. Other students of the tax system see the corporate income tax as the price corporations pay in return for special privileges from society. The most important of these privileges is limited liability for shareholders. This means that creditors cannot claim the personal assets of shareholders, because the liability of shareholders for the corporation's debts is limited to the amount they have invested in the corporation.