If the goal is to increase wages, then government should lower the supply of labor and increase the demand for labor. Provide minimum x weeks of vacation, parental leave, maximum 8 hours per day until overtime rates kick in, free higher education, etc.
As for forcing companies to pay dividends, I’d rather the government not be able to tell me what to do with my company’s funds. If the government wants control of the funds, they should raise the tax rates.
> As for forcing companies to pay dividends, I’d rather the government not be able to tell me what to do with my company’s funds
I don't want to digress too much, but limited liability corporation and more complex structures with shareholders are creations of the government. You used to have to obtain a specific charter from the sovereign for each one of them. So unless you're an individual doing business with unlimited liability, it's debatable whether government (or the lawgiver, to be more specific) shouldn't get to make the rules for you.
Of course, the idea that states are created for the benefit of humans is bullshit, but it's nice to dream of something better...
I agree with this. Which is why I wrote the state can choose to increase taxes. I have yet to be shown how requiring a company to pay dividends accomplishes the goal of improving the lives of humans.
Of course, that's too tame. We'd be better off eliminating the most common forms of incorporation, or severely curtailing them e.g. maximum revenue limits. All the things that corporations can do, individuals, partnerships, mutual-benefit firms, etc. can also do, except often more carefully.
Pay the damn wages and dividends, I'd say. The former will go into consumption, the latter will go probably into other companies, especially if we discourage less productive uses of capital (like real estate). And also getting taxes from these is more straightforward. Maybe they don't even have to be that high percentage-wise, if there is less possibility of avoidance.