In the United States, it seems, corporations are people too—except when it suits them not to be. In this week's Congressional brouhaha over Apple's overseas tax-avoidance schemes, the chief solutions proffered have been either to give firms like Apple a one-time tax holiday so they can bring some of their cash back home, or else stop taxing them on their overseas earnings altogether.
Seems pretty logical to me. The reason why this doesn't happen is of course simple -- corporations have both the ability to influence policy and to relocate themselves internationally that individuals don't. The argument is always that fixing the corporate tax code will cause a flight of intellectual capital out of the US to other, more tax friendly jurisdictions. That is of course silly. There are lots of reasons above and beyond tax law that keep companies headquartered and investing in the United States. Making our tax code fairer to everyone isn't going to stop economic activity.
