You’ve done nothing for me but call up is down wasting my time.
Taxes come from profits which come from customers. Although GAAP does not consider them a “business expense” they are clearly an expense of the business.
It is a 100% certainty that with all else equal higher corporate taxes leads to higher prices.
No other outcome is possible.
The onus isn’t on me, you’re the one making the extraordinary claim as if corps have a unicorn crapping cash to pay their expenses.
I’d offer as proof that executive pay in the most taxed and regulated industries often is the highest executive pay. As taxes and regulations are a moat inhibiting competition insuring their power and pay. But I’m not the one needing to prove anything here.
Just proving higher taxes results in lower prices in and of itself in any form would be a feat.
I’m done with up is down world. Believe whatever it is that floats your boat.
1. GAAP does not consider corporate income taxes to be a business expense because they're not expenses. I wrote a big check in 2023 for my company's income taxes from the 2022 tax year. This was not a deductible business expense on my 2023 tax return that I filed this year.
2. Prices are set by supply and demand, not tax considerations. ExxonMobil paid $20 billion in corporate income taxes in 2022. Chevron paid $14 billion for the same year. If you drive down the road and pass an Exxon station and Chevron station next to each other, their fuel prices are likely to be identical.
3. Just proving higher taxes results in lower prices in and of itself in any form would be a feat. I never said any such thing. I simply pointed out that corporate income taxes and prices are not correlated. Go back to Post #116 (I assume you never followed up on it). I posted the corporate income tax rates for the U.S. since 1934. Please find a half dozen products -- or even just one -- and post the price history in the U.S. relative to those changing tax rates. Or maybe don't bother. I will save you the time. There is no correlation.