I was just thinking about Corporate Taxes, don’t ask me why.

US corporate profit performance.

I’ve heard that the USA has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, 35%. So I am looking at these 2008 figures and see that Corporate profits are $1,360.4 Billion and they paid $292.2 Billion. That works out to 21.5%, not 35%.  I see from the 2008 federal budget that Corporate tax revenues come to $314.9 Billion. I don’t know why these numbers don’t agree, maybe different fiscal calendars, but the latter is still only 23%, not 35%.

If we really had a 35% tax rate we would be collecting $476 Billion instead of the paltry sum we are currently collecting. That would help pay for a few more months in Afghanistan.

I see that the US  corporate tax rate is listed as between 0% and 35%, so we don’t actually have a flat one-rate-for-all-corporations tax.  I guess the fun is in starting with 35% and seeing how quickly you can get it to 0%. Why don’t they make a flat 25% tax with no deductions and stop playing games? I would like for them to revise the corporate tax code such that any compensation paid to an executive in excess of the US presidents salary would be counted toward corporate profits and not an operating expense.