Should-Read: Greg Leiserson: In defense of the statutory U.S. corporate tax rate: "The overwhelming majority of the corporate tax base consists of excess returns... above the risk-free rate such as those due to monopoly pricing power... http://equitablegrowth.org/research-analysis/in-defense-of-the-statutory-u-s-corporate-tax-rate/
...Cutting the corporate tax rate is inefficient and regressive because these types of income are relatively efficient to tax and accrue to business owners, who are disproportionately high-income and high-wealth.... The corporate-level tax rate on the marginal investment—the tax rate paid on a hypothetical investment in tangible or intangible capital that yields the minimum return necessary to attract financing in capital markets—is far lower than the statutory tax rate: only 6 percent, according to recent estimates from the Congressional Research Service.... The advantages of focusing on the tax base rather than the corporate tax rate are usefully illustrated by two proposals recently put forward by the tax policy community, both of which achieve the economic objectives of their proponents at far lower cost than reducing the statutory rate in isolation...the destination-based cash flow tax... Eric Toder... and Alan Viard['s]... proposal... taxing investors on the change in the value of their shares in publicly traded companies on an annual basis...
