The Biden Administration's $ 2 trillion infrastructure plan, announced with fanfare a few weeks ago, has opened up a debate about not only what comprises infrastructure, but also about how to pay for it. Not surprisingly. it is corporate taxes that are the primary vehicle for delivering the revenues needed for the plan, with an increase in the federal corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% being the central proposal. I will leave the debate on what comprises infrastructure to others, and focus entirely on the corporate tax question in this post. I do this, knowing fully well that tax debates quickly turn toxic, as people have strong priors on whether corporations pay their fair share of taxes, and selectively find inforrmation to back their positions. I will begin by laying out the pathways through which corporate taxes affect company value, and then looking at how the 2017 tax reform act, which lowered the federal tax rate from 35% to 21%, has affected corporate behavior.
The Corporate Tax Burden: Facts and Fiction
The Corporate Tax Burden: Facts and Fiction
The Corporate Tax Burden: Facts and Fiction
The Biden Administration's $ 2 trillion infrastructure plan, announced with fanfare a few weeks ago, has opened up a debate about not only what comprises infrastructure, but also about how to pay for it. Not surprisingly. it is corporate taxes that are the primary vehicle for delivering the revenues needed for the plan, with an increase in the federal corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% being the central proposal. I will leave the debate on what comprises infrastructure to others, and focus entirely on the corporate tax question in this post. I do this, knowing fully well that tax debates quickly turn toxic, as people have strong priors on whether corporations pay their fair share of taxes, and selectively find inforrmation to back their positions. I will begin by laying out the pathways through which corporate taxes affect company value, and then looking at how the 2017 tax reform act, which lowered the federal tax rate from 35% to 21%, has affected corporate behavior.