Anyone want to explain this...
WASHINGTON — Two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005, according to a new report from Congress.
The study by the Government Accountability Office released Tuesday said about 68 percent of foreign companies doing business in the U.S. avoided corporate taxes over the same period.
...
More than 38,000 foreign corporations had no tax liability in 2005 and 1.2 million U.S. companies, or 66.7 percent of them, paid no income tax, the GAO said. Combined, the companies had $2.5 trillion in sales. About 25 percent of large U.S. corporations _ those with at least $250 million in assets or $50 million in receipts _ did not pay corporate taxes.
[see the full article on Huffington Post]
Hotei
That's because you have to remember what a corporation is(different than a compny): A corporation is a legal entity (technically, a juristic person) which has a legal personality distinct from those of its members. This means the people owning and operating the corporation, if it be few or many, are actually separate from the corporation. With my basic knowledge, there are 2 basic kinds of taxed corportations. A C corporation and and S corporation. From Legalzoom.com:
Two Types of Corporations
The IRS allows for a corporation to be taxed either as a “C corporation” or as an “S corporation.”
C Corporations
A C corporation is taxed at two levels. This is commonly referred to as double taxation. A C corporation pays a corporate tax on its corporate income (the first tax). Then, the C corporation distributes profits to stockholders who pay income tax on those dividends (the second tax).
S Corporations
One way to avoid the double taxation of a C corporation is to make a special election to be taxed as a S corporation, which is pass-through entity taxed like a partnership or a sole proprietorship. That way, there is only one level of taxation. The corporate profits "pass through" to the owners, who pay taxes on the profits at their individual tax rates.
So likely all those percentages were S corporation, but the people involved did pay taxes, just not the legal fiction of the corporation.
Hope that makes sense.
... However, I'm at a loss to see how you can make the "uses it to make money" part of that statement. The court neither makes appropriation laws nor collects taxes. If you're talking about the "fine of $50 and court costs"... well, I thought you'd approve of a business that's self funded.
Hotei
PS: I am not sure, but is your proposed court system similar to that of another country? ie English criminal law uses "a judge and a jury of your peers", but I believe other countries have either panel of judges or other arrangements (professional juries?). Actually sounds more like a military court martial now that I think of it...
Take away all of the fines collected from the court system in your local city, which includes traffic tickets because these are legal documents, and when you just pay, you're settling with the court without a trial, without increasing income anywhere else in the budget, and watch the city tank.
A business that's self funded? I think you're missing the
HUGE part where everyone working in and for the court system, except for private lawyers unless they are contracted by the government to work in that court, gets a paycheck from the government that court is in, not from the money that the court takes in. That extra money is like a bonus the government of that area gets to take and use for other things. All those people already have a salary built in, already discluding what the court takes in. So maybe that clears it up a little bit? If you don't believe me go and sit in on a court and tally up the fines and fees. I'm sure you have tens of thousands of dollars easily before you get bored and leave.
But also, demanding a fine of someone who's done wrong against someone else sounds good because it creates a burdon for them as punishment. But, why should the fine payment go to the government? Why not the person. Oh well that's a whole different thing anyways.
I don't propose we do anything similar to another country. I'd like to see things move beyond what anyone else has done before or is doing currently. It's all just more of the same, and so redundant. It's common sense. You hurt or defraud somebody, you're going to pay them restitution or do something to fix it for them, and pay for the time of the people to help decide your case.
And about the reading and writing, being responsible for yourself would create an obligation and incentive to learn these skills. It wouldn't be like going through government school where they force their way on you or no way. You'd have an interest to lean these skills so you weren't douped.
I hope you don't go and talk to your local baker about this, because if he/she finds out that you think the government is the only thing keeping you safe from their greed, they'll probably be insulted, and then you will need protection from their products if you purchase from them again, if they even let you in their store.
And not everything would involve contract writing. Many things would be just as they are today, they would change so little you wouldn't even notice. You go into your bakery before you insult the baker, and see two loafs of bread that you want. You ask how much they'll take for them and you agree on a price. You pay that price and take the bread. You get home and one loaf is great, you go to slice the second loaf and there is a rat baked in. You go back to the bakery and they either refund you or replace the loaf and try to figure out what happened. Because if they don't you're going to tell everyone and they're going to loose business. What's difficult about that?
Maybe you think that everyday, normal, common interactions and transactions between individuals would change drastically? I'm not sure that all of them would, and really many would probably not really change at all.
