Yesterday, a whole lot of people paid a whole lot of taxes. It was Tax Day — filing day — for most Americans.
Truth is, American workers pay income tax with every paycheck. And they pay other taxes too.
Somehow, though, Pfizer — one of the world's most profitable companies — did much better than we did. "Drugmakers make big profits in the U.S.," explains Sydney Lupkin at NPR. "But many pay taxes far below the 21% corporate tax rate. Pfizer's effective tax rate is so low it's getting a big refund despite booking $59 billion in revenue."
Did you get a big refund on top of a huge wage hike? No?
Well, you should lobby Congress more.
Now, Pfizer's long had a cushy/pushy relationship with the U.S. Government. The company's had to pay loads of legal penalties for malfeasance, but it's also received subsidies, immunities, and government-forced clientele — in the rollout of its most famous product. But through thick and thin it faces our byzantine tax code with ease, for it's that tax complexity that really gives Big Pharma the advantage, compared to smaller companies.
I have never argued for more taxes. I wonder if corporations should even be taxed based on income, which gets complicated to figure since it's based on profits and losses and investments etc., thus opening the door to corrupt insider politics. Plus, those taxes simply get passed on to us.
But if corporations are taxed, how indecent that small companies tend not to get huge refunds on years in which they make stellar returns.
Though I suppose if Congress keeps on awarding more to the bigger, that's a problem that sort of solves itself.
With the smaller companies just dying out.
This is Common Sense. I'm Paul Jacob.
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