Summary: Are corporations people, or are they something else? Corporations are made up of people - including employees, shareholders, and executives. So, are corporations distinct from the people that comprise them? Economics professor Steven Horwitz addresses this question. Today, many people say we should raise the corporate income tax as a way to tax the rich, or the so-called '1%'. But according to Professor Horwitz, taxes on corporations don't just tax rich executives, but also average workers and consumers. So who ends up paying when corporate taxes are raised? Workers pay in the form of lower wages Consumers pay in the form of higher prices Americans saving for retirement pay in the form of lower stock prices and a less valuable retirement portfolio Professor Horwitz shows that a tax on corporations is not the equivalent of a tax on the wealthy; instead individual people will pay these taxes, regardless of wealth. Working people bear the costs of the corporate income tax.
