, Columnist
How the U.S. Could Kill the Corporate Tax
The U.S. is well on its way toward taxing individuals rather than companies. Now it needs to finish the job.
Shift the burden.
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The idea of abolishing corporate taxes sounds like a radical one: I've received dozens of angry emails after bringing it up in a recent column. In the U.S., however, the process of phasing out corporate tax started in earnest 30 years ago, and though it's unfinished, it has worked reasonably well. Politically charged though it would be, the U.S. would benefit from bringing it to the logical conclusion, and other countries could profit from its example.
In a recent paper, Conor Clarke of Yale Law School and Columbia University economist Wojciech Kopczuk traced the evolution of business income and its taxation in the U.S. since the 1950s. They recorded a gradual shift from corporate to individual taxation.