American Taxation

Toward the end of his excellent article “American Taxation” in the May/June issue, John Steele Gordon places insufficient emphasis on the fact that the corporate income tax is a consumption tax. The financial performance of any corporation is measured by its stockholders on the basis of after-tax income. The consumer pays the added cost of corporate income tax along with cost of manufacture, sales, overhead, and of course after-tax profit. The concept promoted by politicians and social engineers that the corporate income tax is borne solely by the wealthy stockholders is completely false.