A Response to "A New Corporate Tax"

Abstract

This is a response to Professor Avi-Yonah's paper on a "New Corporate Tax" (2021). This paper's aim is to discuss the justifications and aims of a corporate tax and corporate tax policy. Specifically, this paper seeks to understand Avi-Yonah's proposal of a graduated system for the corporate tax, which is highly relevant given the new Build Back Better tax proposals from September 2021. A graduated system, may at first seem to fix many of the problems a current, stagnant rate corporate tax system has. However, after discussing the aims and justifications of a corporate tax, this seems to miss the mark. The paper seeks to ask the question: if the answer is to really tax the rich, why not do it in a more direct and sensible way, given that the actual incidence of such a tax does not fall on "corporations"?