In the 1950s, corporations contributed 32% to the federal revenue, in 2013 it was 10% and currently it is 7%, equal to a more than three-quarters reduction rate. This reduction in taxes paid by corporations is due to the Reagan, Bush and Trump tax cuts for the wealthy few plus corporations. Republicans supported those tax cuts with no concern about the trillions of dollars in losses for our government. Reagan’s policies were the beginning of a long and steady rise in income and wealth inequality.
In the 1960s, we had a graduated corporate tax structure, where the lowest rate on profit was 15% and the highest rate was 50%. Before Trump’s tax cuts, the lowest rate was still 15%, but the highest rate had been reduced to 35%. Then, Trump reduced the tax rate even further to 21% and eliminated the graduated tax structure. No matter how much money a corporation makes, it still pays only 21%. Keep in mind that corporations make their money from you, the American taxpayer, who does have a graduated tax.
However eager the Republicans were for tax cuts to corporations, they did not feel it important during this economic downturn to help the American middle class. The American Rescue and the Infrastructure plans passed with little or no Republican support. It seems the Democratic policies are concerned with the middle class while the Republican policies are concerned with their donor class.
Joanne Garing
North Huntingdon