Dear Editor,
There’s been a lot of uproar recently in the media about corporations such as GE, Boeing, etc. not paying their “fair share of taxes.” These people are demonstrating their ignorance of how our economy works.
When I took accounting, our instructor informed us that no corporation, or, as far as that’s concerned, any other business pays taxes.
Any monies levied upon them by the federal or state or any other governmental entities are simply included in their costs of doing business and are passed on to their customers in the prices of their commodities, and, we, whenever we buy a product produced by those companies, are paying the taxes, driving up the cost of living.
Additionally, the way the media has been carrying on about the “huge” profits these companies made, you‘d think they were evil, but anybody going into business is expected to make a profit or why bother?
That’s why communism cannot work, because the people are unable to profit from their labors.
As far as the profits earned by GE, Boeing, etc. are concerned, who is going to receive them?
One group benefiting from this money will probably be the workers, who will receive a portion of the profits in bonuses, but most of it will be paid out to the stockholders as dividends. And who are these people?
Well, anybody with a 401(k) and/or an IRA has money in the stock market and quite a few of them probably have some GE and/or Boeing stock in their portfolios, so they will be receiving some of these dividends.
Also, the stock of profitable companies is more valuable, which increases the worth of these people’s pension plans.
I was employed by CPI for many years, so I’m familiar with how the system works.
So let’s not get all excited about how the big corporations are supposedly ripping us off, but take a good look at how well, on the whole, capitalism benefits us all.
Geraldine Piland,
Great Bend