Presuming that Janet Yellen, our current secretary of the Treasury, lives in California, her marginal […]
Tag: Corporate Taxes
Controllers Tight-Lipped About New Corporate Tax Changes
During an article brainstorming call I had with Caleb a couple Fridays ago, we both […]
The Corporate Income Tax Is Like Mother’s Milk for Tax Professionals
Corporate tax lawyers like the tax – a lot. Corporate tax managers can’t live without […]
Corporate America Encouraged By Rhetoric From Presidential Candidates
Yesterday we attempted to make some sense of President Obama's statement about ending "tax breaks […]
Bonus Watch ’12: IRS Whistleblowers
Don't expect this to be the standard result for any future snitches on corporate tax […]
It’s Nice to Know That Tax Credits Aren’t Going Completely to Waste
This is what happens when tax breaks are used as political favors: Tax consultants estimate […]
Here Are a Couple of Corporations Whose Taxes (or Lack Thereof) Are Actually Worth Bitching About
Over the weekend, I aired some grievances that I've had with The New York Times and its tax […]
Memo to The New York Times: The Tax Shaming Has Gotten Old
Last weekend, the New York Times ran an exposé on Apple and its "sidestepping" of taxes. […]
Here’s the President’s Framework for Business Tax Reform
At 23 pages, it's nearly readable! But it's still wonky tax stuff so it's not […]
Analysis: Corporations May Be People But They Are Definitely Not Humans
The Iowa State Fair is going strong and because Election 2012 is in full throttle, the GOP Presidential candidates have been posing for photo-ops and making statements with varying degrees of stupidity.
One of the most logical things uttered, I dare say, was done so by Mitt Romney. By now you’ve probably heard that ol’ Mitt, in between corndogs, got into a bit of a verbal joust with a few of the fair goers. Here’s the soundbite:
The statement has been examined and debated with most intelligent people coming down on the side of Romney. That is, human beings – whether it’s shareholders, employees or customers – eventually bear the cost of the taxes paid by corporations. So while a whole host of humans, including the majority Supreme Court of the United States, are stuck on this “people” thing, it’s worth noting (mostly for the sake of stupid fun) that corporations are definitely not “humans.” Maybe that’s overstating the obvious but English is complicated language and this exercise is not without its merits.
Humans, at their best, are capable of being compassionate, loving, generous and all that crap. Corporations are not. At worst, humans are disgusting, vile creatures capable of ridiculous behavior and we know this to be true mostly because of reality TV. Corporations are certainly capable of deplorable behavior but this behavior is usually at the behest of a human being’s decision.
Accordingly, let’s examine some thing that demonstrate that don’t make corporations “human.”
• Corporations don’t flash women who aren’t the age of consent.
• Corporations don’t use your bathroom and help themselves to the Goldbond Medicated Powder to an extent that you wonder if someone left the window open during a snowstorm.
• Corporations don’t eat corn dogs (humans shouldn’t either).
• Corporations can’t sign a taxpayer protection pledge.
• Corporations don’t “try out” 18 year-old women, take them over state lines and then take money in order to “protect” them.
Feel free to volunteer other examples of “human” versus “people” below but what’s important to note here is that while both humans and corporations may be people, all humans are people and it’s clear that corporations are not humans.
And if that still doesn’t help you understand the difference, just remember this – no matter the situation, for better or worse, humans are the ones who get screwed. Got it?
Bill Clinton Wants a Lower Corporate Tax Rate
“We’ve got an uncompetitive rate,” Clinton told a crowd at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Saturday.
“We tax at 35 percent of income, although we only take about 23 percent. So we should cut the rate to 25 percent, or whatever’s competitive, and eliminate a lot of the deductions so that we still get a fair amount, and there’s not so much variance in what the corporations pay.” [HP]
One of the Guys That Wrote the Mother of All Corporate Tax Textbooks Has Died

James Eustice, who co-authored Federal Income Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders with Boris Bittker, died yesterday at 77. He was a Gerald L. Wallace Professor of Taxation Emeritus at NYU and counsel at Cooley LLP.
This epic book is more appropriately referred to as a “treatise” but it probably served as your primary source of information for your corporate tax classes.
For anyone not familiar with B&E, it’s quite the impressive piece of work and would be an excellent weapon of choice in a tax nerd duel. I personally never assaulted anyone with my copy but it did come in handy when I had trouble sleeping in grad school.
Anyone else with fond memories of B&E are invited to share them.
Death of Jim Eustice [TaxProf Blog]