Every time I hear or see in the media that we should close loopholes in corporate tax regulations or that businesses should pay more, usually from a politician or special interest group, I just shake my head and wonder why most cannot comprehend the basic fact that businesses do not pay taxes they collect taxes. Think about it, those taxes that businesses pay, and the horrendous cost of complying with our incomprehensible tax code, are just another cost to a business and that cost is figured into the price consumers – thats you and me – pay for the product. So when one level of government or another raises taxes on business they just increase the price.

To a politician it is much easier to raise taxes on business because most do not make the connection that the tax increase is actually on their constituents and voters. It makes good press – tax the big bad corporations and not individuals – but the end effect is that you and I pay those taxes when we purchase a product. And the business dutifully passes those tax dollars on to the government. Wow – thats pretty slick! So our businesses are another arm of the IRS. As we assess our tax burden we need to include those taxes paid by businesses.