Because the rich don't tend to sell their stock on regular basis for income: to maximise wealth, they re-invest.
Corporate taxes ensure this tax is actually realised on a semiregular basis.
Corporate taxes ensure this tax is actually realised on a semiregular basis.
It’s like claiming a house is a tax dodge because the owner isn’t taxed every quarter in the increase in value. In both cases the owner gets taxed when gains are realized.
Corporate income is mostly a way to get incremental cash for govt. But the tax comes gets paid by stocks, effectively taxing pensions, 401ks, etc., without people thinking about it.
As a way to check it, there’s academic papers demonstrating every dollar held by a company is matched in market cap - company loses X in cash, market cap drops X.
So the company isn’t really paying - it’s shareholders that pay. They ultimately lost the value.