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Letter: Corporations’ taxes skew reported data

Saturday, July 7, 2007 | 7:08 a.m.

Brian Greenspun's July 1 column about the misleading research of The Tax Foundation did not treat one additional aspect. The right-wing front organization has long published skewed data by operating on the assumption that all taxes are paid by individuals. It thus attributes all taxes paid by corporations to its per capita taxation figures.

Adding corporate taxes to those paid by individuals is dishonest.

Ronald Reagan gave undeserved legitimacy to the idea that "corporations don't pay taxes, people do."

Thanks to one of the worst-ever U.S. Supreme Court decisions, corporations are legally persons, so Reagan's statement was technically false.

Whether or not they are considered people, corporations do indeed pay taxes. The assumption that all corporate costs are passed on to consumers is just untrue. One example suffices. A cost increase, whether from taxes or increased labor or material prices, does not necessarily lead to an increase in a company's prices. Pressures from competitors may prevent price increases. The corporation simply takes a smaller profit.

Andrew Barbano, Reno

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