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Taxes aren't gasoline or baggage fees. Fuel and baggage handling fees are a deductible cost of doing business...you said yourself the increased fees offset the costs.

Everything else being equal, raise your price, increase your profit, pay more tax...Then what? Raise your price higher?

If you raise your price to offset your income tax (income tax is the subject of the thread) you will increase your profit and hence you increase your tax. Your taxes ARE NOT A DEUCTIBLE cost of doing business and businesses pay tax on profits and gains.

Once again, you do not understand how businesses work. As you stated, businesses pay taxes on PROFITS and GAINS (keep this in mind)! And, just because I increase my fees does NOT mean I increase my profits. Let me explain how many companies operate, since you think they take money in so as to be able to pay Uncle Sam (just for the record very few are in business to pay taxes)!

Since companies only get taxed on PROFIT, there are MANY tax deductions which people/companies do not claim on their taxes from year to year, but as their tax rates climb, taxpayers/companies start increasing their use of tax loopholes, tax deductions, etc... to offset their cost of doing business.

Many years I did NOT claim the tax deductions for working out of my house. However, when my profits were higher than normal (i.e., my taxes were going to be higher, etc...) I DID claim my home deductions and walla...my tax rate went down!

People like you either refuse to acknowledge or simply do not understand that the average tax rate paid into the Treasury is about 20% of GDP - REGARDLESS of the official tax rates! This is a FACT!

The reasoning behind this is because companies do not pay taxes; CUSTOMERS do! Many companies will increase their charitable contributions or take a loss on a short-term project to DECREASE their effective tax rate. Heck, I know of companies who moved their offices simply to take advantage of "moving expenses" deductions in order to limit their tax rates for the year (no, not me)!

See, you are one of those people who think that gasoline companies have some special tax loophole that allows them to "steal" from the public. When, in fact, they have the same tax deductions that any other commodity company has - a diminished return on investment deduction. As the oil reserves in the hole in the ground is expected to diminish over time, they are allowed to deduct the costs of operating and establishing the hole in the first place - but so too are the silver and gold miners and the rock quarry owners and many other companies! You also think companies get paid to ship jobs overseas - right? Nope, they take the same "moving expense" deductions which I mentioned above - nothing special, they simple use the deductions as they are written!

And THAT is why companies do not pay taxes, CUSTOMERS do!