Why isn’t corporation tax graduated like income tax is?

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Hi all

This may be a bit more UK focused, but from what I can see it applies to a good few other countries too.

In the UK, personal income tax is graded based on income, with a tax free threshold, then the basic income tax level between £~12,000 to £50,000, then a higher rate above £50,000, then another band too. This seems fair as the more you earn, the more of that ‘higher’ income gets taxed.

Why isn’t this the same for corporation tax? This is a flat rate regardless of turnover/profit, with small companies having to pay the same proportion of their profits as large multinational companies. Wouldn’t it be fairer to have bands like personal income tax?

In: Economics

26 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Lots of people are giving “logical” reasons that are often cited and do make sense to a degree. But, in the US, the real reason is that corporations spend a dick ton of money on lobbying and make sure to buy as many lawmakers as possible to ensure they keep tax rates down. Corporation tax rates used to be much more graduated and higher. But lobbying has decreased it over the decades and used things like “reinvestment” etc to justify it. But, in reality, they just want more money.

Again, this is only the US I can speak to.

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