lowtek
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The simplistic answer is: yes. However, there is much more nuance to the discussion, and in fact the motivation behind the desire to tax some businesses more is justified, IMO.
We have to define our terms, though. There is a vast gulf between even a 7 or 8 figure business run by a small team of scrappy entrepreneurs, and the Global Mega Corporations™.
Clearly, the idea of taxing smaller businesses is going to be insane. These will just get passed on to the customers or employees and defeat the overall purpose of the tax. Suggestions that we should tax small business should be dismissed without a second thought.
On the other hand, Global Mega Corporation™ has emerged as a power center that rivals that of many governments, and indeed works hand in hand with many of them to commit a number of blatant crimes. Mass surveillance, mass incarceration, and mass suppression of free speech are just a few of the abuses that go on unchecked. All this is done under the guise of "that's just capitalism, bro. They're private companies, they can do what they want!".
Many of these corporations serve as feeders for the government bureaucratic agencies that are supposed to regulate them, resulting in an orgy of incestuous relationships that further muddy the distinction between Global Mega Corporation™ and Big Government™. Let me be clear, the issue here isn't one of a failure to properly regulate large corporations. Regulations only serve as a mechanism to keep smaller companies from competing, since Global Mega Corporation™ can easily put up a facade of compliance, the cost of which would bankrupt their smaller competitors. The issue is in the existence of the corporation itself.
The practice of allowing a company to be a front that shields those in control from the consequences of their wrongdoing is the root of the problem. Fines are a joke, and only paid by shareholders, employees, and customers. How many people went to prison for their role in defrauding the pension funds, and indeed the whole world, with shoddy housing securities back in 2007? Not a single one.
Something has to be done about the merger of state and corporate power. Those that are calling for their taxation are merely responding to their understanding that something is wrong. They don't know a better way of fixing it, so taxing them seems like an appropriate response. This is why I say the motivation is justified. Taxation doesn't go far enough, and breaking them up within the current system will only lead to even greater monstrosities in the future. The entire corporate system needs to be abolished and replaced with something more sane.
We have to define our terms, though. There is a vast gulf between even a 7 or 8 figure business run by a small team of scrappy entrepreneurs, and the Global Mega Corporations™.
Clearly, the idea of taxing smaller businesses is going to be insane. These will just get passed on to the customers or employees and defeat the overall purpose of the tax. Suggestions that we should tax small business should be dismissed without a second thought.
On the other hand, Global Mega Corporation™ has emerged as a power center that rivals that of many governments, and indeed works hand in hand with many of them to commit a number of blatant crimes. Mass surveillance, mass incarceration, and mass suppression of free speech are just a few of the abuses that go on unchecked. All this is done under the guise of "that's just capitalism, bro. They're private companies, they can do what they want!".
Many of these corporations serve as feeders for the government bureaucratic agencies that are supposed to regulate them, resulting in an orgy of incestuous relationships that further muddy the distinction between Global Mega Corporation™ and Big Government™. Let me be clear, the issue here isn't one of a failure to properly regulate large corporations. Regulations only serve as a mechanism to keep smaller companies from competing, since Global Mega Corporation™ can easily put up a facade of compliance, the cost of which would bankrupt their smaller competitors. The issue is in the existence of the corporation itself.
The practice of allowing a company to be a front that shields those in control from the consequences of their wrongdoing is the root of the problem. Fines are a joke, and only paid by shareholders, employees, and customers. How many people went to prison for their role in defrauding the pension funds, and indeed the whole world, with shoddy housing securities back in 2007? Not a single one.
Something has to be done about the merger of state and corporate power. Those that are calling for their taxation are merely responding to their understanding that something is wrong. They don't know a better way of fixing it, so taxing them seems like an appropriate response. This is why I say the motivation is justified. Taxation doesn't go far enough, and breaking them up within the current system will only lead to even greater monstrosities in the future. The entire corporate system needs to be abolished and replaced with something more sane.