Rehctub>> I guess we will never know unless some government actually goes after them, but to be honest, I'm not prepared to take that gamble because I'm happy with what they bring to the table and cant imagine life without them.<<

Butch your submissive position on this is disappointing. You don’t have to image what life would be without corporations.......you have experienced it, a time when a butcher could put up a shingle and be completive enough to make a living.

The average global tax paid by corporations in the 1960’s was over 45%.........right now it is below 15%, if the bean counters can not manipulate their books to read revenue neutral..........that you can’t imagine life without bloodsuckers who dominate a market segment, chase small players out of the market and pay no tax to the nation that supports them is nothing short of betrayal to your socio economic class.

Hi SonofGloin,

The Bernie Sanders in me says increase the corporate tax rate to whatever the highest rate is in the world. That will show 'em. To hell with the consequences, like capital flight, loss of jobs, urban decrepitude. Boy, that felt good.

The Utter Opportunist in me says to drop the corporate tax altogether, keep as much business, i.e. economic activity, in Australia, as possible, therefore jobs, which would increase the income tax revenue for the government, reduce costs, and keep as many people as possible gainfully employed. Perhaps lower corporate taxes might flow on to higher wages or more put into R. & D., I don't know.

As an ex-Marxist, I always ask myself 'What would the workers want ?'

Joe

There must be a reason why no one will look at it Arm Chair, not even a hint of a look, a bit sad considering all options are on the table as they say.

Loudmouth>> The Bernie Sanders in me says increase the corporate tax rate to whatever the highest rate is in the world. That will show 'em. To hell with the consequences, like capital flight, loss of jobs, urban decrepitude.<<

Joe unfortunately both Capitalism and Communism have the same flaw, the nature of mans need for security via the accumulation of wealth and power, and that isn’t going away.

You quite rightly sight capital flight, job security and urban decrepitude as issues if Corporations leave the market. All of these things have been visited on us since the Corporatisation of manufacturing and services via legislation and Free Trade Agreements taking hold in the 1980’s.

In the heart of capitalist American cities we find decimated suburbs, unemployment and homelessness due to manufacturing moving to cheaper bases in the second and third world and sovereign economic protectionism of the economy outlawed by legislation.

Before the global push by Corporations in the 1980’s the “average” household savings and assets against GDP in Australia was 22%, now it is less than 8%. During that period Corporations savings went from 9% to 20%, and Australian household debt against GDP rose from 27% in 1980 to 92% in 2015.

Joe your fear of losing the status quo from this current corporate system is futile given all the negatives you address have come to pass under this corporate globalisation. As I said to Butcher, there were more butchers and outlets before big business owned everything than after it.

Loudmouth and sonofgloin,

The obsession with corporate tax rates is costly. All other things being equal, of course a lower tax rate makes us more attractive to business, but it's only one of many things that does so. Good infrastructure is generally more important, as is a highly skilled and educated workforce. Yet there seems to be a perception, especially among those on the Right, that more education spending is unaffordable but lower tax rates will pay for themselves. If anything, the reverse is true.

A financial transactions tax would be worse for the economy than cutting the corporate tax rate, as it would decimate the financial services industry while failing to raise the predicted revenue. But even that's not the worst thing we could do.

The worst thing we could do is try to get Australia out of debt! Debt is an essential part of any modern economy. The government has an infinite credit limit for debt in Australian dollars. This does NOT mean it should always run big deficits; the need to control inflation means surpluses are sometimes desirable (and still would be even if we had no debt at all). But we needn't ever worry about budget repair. And we certainly shouldn't ever weaken the economy in an attempt to rush to surplus when the unemployment rate is high. We must remember that strong local demand is also more important to business than what the corporate tax rate is.

Aidan, the whole "debt is good" outlook worries me.......the only time debt does us a favour is in establishing a credit rating.