"Of the total spending, the U.S. military accounts for nearly $1 trillion on its own and its chief beneficiary, corporations don’t pay enough in income taxes to even provide for the cost of the military expenditure, let alone other benefits gained from governments. "

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Let me get this straight. Corporations who "benefit" from military contracts should be taxed to cover the entire cost of those expenditures, in addition to paying for the other "benefits" provided to them by governments? I'm assuming by other benefits that you mean infrastructure, services, etc.

I agree that if you hate corporations, this is a sure fire way to make sure they go the way of the triceritops, but aside from that it doesn't make a lot of sense Lyle. Would you, as a business person, be interested in doing business with the government if one of the requirements of doing so was that you were taxed to cover the cost of whatever was purchased from you?

Back to the drawing board on this one, Lyle...

More communist marxist drivel from the wilted 60's flower child, Lyle Rube. If we all ran our households like Mr Rube here, we would all be bankrupt. Go pedal your keynsianism on facebook you aged hippy, it doesnt work.

Lyle,
I don't see your point. Are you saying corporate taxes aren't really high? (you use the work 'illusion') Do you want corporate taxation tied directly to military spending? Why point at the military? Other government spending also benefits corporations - such as infrastructure and education. Why not decrease military spending instead of raising taxes? I just don't see where you are trying to go with this.

Liberals don't realize that corporations don't pay any taxes, raise them all you want, all taxes are passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices....this is why most liberals on this board are failed business people.

Non-union corporations could do it cheaper.

@Lyle Ruble.... How do you address the difference between Multi-National and domestic Corporations? Does McDonald's, with stores around the world, pay the same rate as Culvers, with stores only in the USA?

@Lyle

It would be better to argue that corporations take into account both tax rates and the stability of the countries in which they might reside.

By those measures there are many attractive alternatives.

You have successfully attacked two of the biggest enemies of liberalism; private business and the military. However, the connection between the two is halfhearted at best.

The taxation system is a problem created by liberals. You have created a system that punishes the small business, while providing massive loopholes for large corporations that befriend politicians (GM). At the same time it penalizes the evil business of the day (oil, currently), while providing legal tax evasion and government hand outs for the good business of the day (green energy).

Instead, as a good liberal, you never look at the system and try to fix it, but instead just add more layers of government. Not unlike your last blog where you identified a social problem and addressed it with more government. The easy fix is to lower the tax rate to be competitive and eliminate the loopholes. Unfortunately, the means who liberals would need to give up government power. For it is easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle then for a liberal to relinquish power.

Lyle, this post leaves me wondering how you feel about GE paying $0.00?

Why do we want to have a separate corporate income tax? As Steve points out above, corporations are simply groups of individuals. Why not just tax the 'pass through' income(Dividends and Capital Gains) and toss out the entire separate corporate tax scheme. If the stats are to be believed,big corporations spend more on 'tax compliance'(accountants, tax lawyers...) than on the actual tax liability. The tax code currently has the 'pass-through' provision for Sub-chapter S corporations. Lets apply that 'pass through' tax law to all corporations and eliminate tax regulations that don't seem to add any net value to our economy.

Just a thought; Who do you think runs the Government? Big Business. Who runs the military, the same people who run Big Business. This is why we've been fighting an Oil War for roughly 100 years and a drug war for the same length of time. Hey Lyle, I like what you wrote, it puts a new view, that most don't or won't look at or acknowledge; but it's true.

I suggest lowering the tax rates so corporations arent forced to take the proceeds offshore.

If a corporation were to leave due to taxation and left a hole in the market place for product to be sold and profit to be made, a business would step in to fill the void. These super sized mega corporations are holding the citizens hostage, it's time to free ourselves of their grasp. Play by the rule of the people or get out and sell your wares elsewhere; you will not make profit here and send it offshore. You will not bypass tax law through loopholes. Globalization unfortunately is killing our nation. The desire for more, opened the door and has made for a larger percentage of those in poverty and poor. The average person works more for less in return.

Actually, I think it's pay up or get out; there are others who'll gladly open a business here once you take your greed to some other foreign country, where it's sooooo much better. Especially works, when the citizens of the USA BUY Products Made in the USA.

Daniel, I do not think you understand basic economics and the consequences of taxes.

You are entitled to your thinking. I believe the situation here and abroad has gone beyond basic economics. We've tried various options over decades past; look where it has taken us . . . . guess it's working fine eh? This mess didn't all appear on BO's shift, it took a long time to get us here, many different administrations played a part in this mess.

Is that your final answer?

No. This is though.

Lyle, you begin by relying on OMB numbers to support your points. I would note the AARP did not include OMB on its recently published list of non-partisan references to use when researching federal budget issues.
I frequently hear the US corporate tax rate discussed in an apples and oranges comparison with foreign competitors. Its often pointed out the effective US corporate tax rate is lower than the published US rate, but its usually then neglected to mention that our competitors' effective rates are also lower than their published rates.
As for taking on the 'self-licking ice cream cone' known as the military-industrial complex, no question it exists, but also no question the first function and reason for governments to exist is security of its citizens. The imperial US as you and others describe it always strikes me a little odd, while the European powers were colonizing huge swaths of whole continents, the US had a handfull of tiny islands - not very good imperialists I guess.
Your point is taken that US international bussineses benefit from US military keeping the peace and sea lanes open, but so do small businesses, and all citizens. Pretty sure we don't have the right tax mix today, and like many I would applaud reforms that produce a simpler fairer tax code ala Simpson-Bolles. I think when your historical tone is Zinn-like you become less persuasive. In fact this whole argument may be more about tone than substance ... which often seems to be the case.

Lyle- That is really a flawed premise. I would argue that because of the research, development, innovation and technology, the military is able to have the hardware to protect the citizens, who in turn have the most to gain by the protection the military provides. So it is precisely the citizens who should foot the bill for the protection.

Most of those hidden dollars you claim are put back into the corporations through research and development. Defense contracts have led to some of themost technilogical advances that benefit the average citizen. See the problem is that the left just plain thinks corporations don't pay taxes.

If we profit, we pay taxes. The stockholders pay capital gains tax on their investments. The officers pay payroll taxes and the employees pay taxes.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out the higher the tax, the higher the cost of the product or service, because the corps are going to pass it on to the consumer. Look at the gasoline tax. I think we all can agree that knocking the 43 cents in combined state and federal taxes would benefit the average citizen immensely.

How do they benefit the most? If you read my post, it can be argued that the citizen has the most to gain.

"How does it help the average citizen for the U.S. government to deploy an Aircraft Carrier Battle Group off another nation’s coast just to remind them that the U.S. is capable of backing up their national interests with an unrivaled force? In short, it doesn’t."

The Dollar is the World's Reserve Currency - it is what is traded for OIL! OF course, that is now being challenged - which is why we find ourselves at odds with IRAN - It is why we invaded Iraq - Saddam was going to trade oil for Euros at his Oil Bourse; In Libya Ghadaffi was going to begin demanding Gold, therefore he had to be killed.

The Dollar - is a FIAT piece of nothing issued by the Federal Reserve Central Bank - ONLY the principal is produced, never the interest - hence it is a debt-based money system. IT WILL COLLAPSE when economic expansion ends and credit isn't constantly growing. IT'S A FRAUD.

The day Imported Oil stops coming to America is the day all our world's end - and the civil war begins. Collapse IS coming.

why does the government not listen to the voter,s and downsize themself, instead they always take a stand that school,s bugeting is always the first place they go . our school,s were to be paid for with lottery dollars