re: #296 schnapp

Look, ultimately people pay all taxes. Someone has to bear the burden. And that someone is either going to be shareholders, customers of workers.
Maybe I can try to articulate better now, because it’s late and I’m tired so I’ll put some more thought into this explanation.
If the US has high cororate tax rates, investors will invest elsewhere because the US becomes less profitable. With less investment in the US there is less economic output, less employment and lower wages.
I was explaining it wrong before. But I have read a bit more now and understand a bit better.
If labour was more mobile then workers would move to other countries that are attracting more investment, producing more, and had higher output, productivity, employment and wages. The corporate taxes would not affect workers because the supply of domestic workers would shrink and so less supply means higher wages etc.
Maybe that makes more sense because I’ve taken time to write this properly.

I’m way late to the party but let me make a simple observation that refutes your claim.

Businesses are still in New York City.

To expand that slightly, there is more to decisions of location than the tax level. A significant part of that is the benefits derived from the tax level. If the taxes ensure more efficient transportation and communications (to name two of several) then the cost may be well worth it. This is especially true when considering the cost of providing one’s own road network and rail network and port security and, well, the list goes on.

All else being equal, higher taxes will encourage relocation of a business. But that clause “All else being equal” is significant, and failure to recognize it can lead to a great deal of error.