The ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ includes a corporate minimum tax provision. The top 150 American corporations have to pay a minimum percentage of book profits as tax. The whole thing has strange implications, with Marginal Revolution offering several claims
Is it possible to separate the notion of taxing investment versus a tax on sticky gains in market share? It seems to me like we should have a provision for taxing the latter, but I am not sure what kind of tax instrument could achieve the desired outcome without discouraging investment. In the abstract, a greater market share would, in the long term, result in greater profits, which are taxable in turn. In practice, Goliaths like Amazon and Apple, with space travel or cars, or whatever other speculative investment, seem to be attempting to seep into more and more industries, using their untaxed windfalls to do so, until they enjoy a special relationship to governments by virtue of their size.
And The Revenues Are So Small
Is it possible to separate the notion of taxing investment versus a tax on sticky gains in market share? It seems to me like we should have a provision for taxing the latter, but I am not sure what kind of tax instrument could achieve the desired outcome without discouraging investment. In the abstract, a greater market share would, in the long term, result in greater profits, which are taxable in turn. In practice, Goliaths like Amazon and Apple, with space travel or cars, or whatever other speculative investment, seem to be attempting to seep into more and more industries, using their untaxed windfalls to do so, until they enjoy a special relationship to governments by virtue of their size.