I understand Press Secretary Jen Psaki's job is to tell the press what the Administration wants them told, whether or not it is true and whether or not she believes what she must say. Today, however, she said something I would not have been able to say with a straight face.
The Daily Wire reports she was asked if it isn't true that corporations pass taxes levied on them along to consumers who purchase their products. Psaki's response:Obviously, the President’s commitment remains not raising taxes for anyone making less than $400,000 a year. There are some — and I’m not sure if this is the case in this report — who argue that, in the past, companies have passed on these costs to consumers. I’m not sure if that’s the argument being made in this report. We feel that that’s unfair and absurd, and the American people would not stand for that.
Take it from a retired Business School prof, corporations view taxes as a business expense, one that all their competitors have to pay as well. So apply a tax on corporations, they roll the tax into their cost structure and raise prices.
All firms are being taxed, all raise prices; "American people" who want what they're selling pay the higher prices or do without. The result is inflation, dollars buy less, purchasing power declines.
Most of those affected make substantially less than $400,000, as our companies pass the taxes along in higher prices of everyday items. If the market for a particular product or service is so fragile that any price rise will cause a precipitous drop in sales, it is likely the tax will cause many firms in that industry to fail, resulting in increased unemployment.
As usual, it is the working poor who get hurt the most by corporate taxes. Their standard of living declines when prices rise faster than their wages. And for some, their jobs disappear.
