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View Full Version : Corporate welfare as a function of employee benefits


kmarinas86
09-21-2006, 03:47 PM
Proposal: Corporate subsidies guided by an invisible hand

There are two fundamental things which power the economy, Calories and Joules.Â*Â*Calories are the most important for they are used in producing human capital which can produce physical capital and technical knowledge that minimizes the labor needed to produce certain items.Â*Â*Efficient allocating of Calories is vital to the economy, and this can be summed up in one term, "education".Â*Â*The efficient allocation of Calories results in greater productivity.Â*Â*Some of these Calories are used to operate researcher's brains, which at times often result in improvements in productivity.Â*Â*There is also a drag force that goes against the economy, and that is called waste - the result of inefficient allocation of what I might call "factors of management" which either results from a lack of education or indifference to the consequences known to exist.Â*Â*Companies do not like waste; in supermarkets, this is often called "shrink".Â*Â*Companies which utilize more capital more effectively make more profit, and usually pay more corporate tax (in dollars).

However, it makes sense that the employees of a profiting company reap the benefits of their profiting company as do investors of the company's stock.Â*Â*Therefore a corporate tax credit equal to the extra wages and salaries (that is, until the corporate tax credit equals the corporate tax), I believe, should be the means by which extra wages and salaries be justified, so that the employees can feel that an improvement in their efforts has done them well (by literally profiting off the profits of their own company).

It can be concluded from the math involving a corporate tax credit equal to the extra wages and salaries (up to a certain limit), that company would actually retain more money than they would have otherwise.Â*Â*From there, supply can be increased compared to normal, as this would occur in parallel to both a corporate tax credit and an increase of consumer purchasing power, and therefore the ability for people to afford their own health care, insurance, tuition, etc.

I think that both public and private ownership have pro's and con's. That's why a mixed economy is a good idea. If it was up to me, i'd raise income tax slightly on those who can afford it, but at the same time cut business taxes (taxes must be spent wisely though).

If it were up to me, I would do that under the condition that the company personnel are aware of their ability to increase their paychecks as a result of the corporate tax cut.Â*Â*Higher demand/capita should make it financially easier to increase supply/capita, and therefore the easier to raise standard of living.

Health care is expensive when (medical) supply is severely limited.Â*Â*Supply is less numbered when it has high costs.Â*Â*Â*Â*Companies deserving new corporate tax credits (defined below) as a result of their increase in pay to employees (without discrimination with regards to "class") would be able to increase their supply as well give greater rewards to their employees who provide the human resources and technical knowledge to manage, improve, and increase the physical capital necessary to increase the supply.Â*Â*Early adopters are helpful for bringing the price of new products down.Â*Â*It is these people who can afford to cover the costs of these new technologies in the private sector.

Local and state funding through sales taxes would increase, which may help to compensate for the waste that sheds from the higher levels of productivity.

My plans, I believe, are good for business.

M = m + (s-a-b)(1-t) + proposed tax credit
Where:
m=initial money
M=final money
s=sales
a=expenses excluding extra wages and salaries
b=extra wages and salaries
s-a-b=profit before corporate tax
t=the corporate tax rate
1-t=the percentage of profits ‘s-a-b’ left over after corporate tax ‘t (s-a-b)’
For b less than or equal to corporate tax, value of proposed tax credit=b
For b greater than corporate tax, value of proposed tax credit=value of corporate tax

If value of proposed tax credit=b, then
M = m + (s-a)(1-t) + tb
Where:
tb=the extra money the company keeps as a result of paying higher wages and salaries ‘b’.

The below is Table 1:
Values of Income Before Tax (thousand dollars), Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars), and Number of Employees come from finance.yahoo.com .

McDonalds Burger King Blockbuster Electronic Arts ConAgra Costco Walmart
MCD BKC BBI ERTS CAG COST WMT
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 3,701,600 78,000 523,500 389,000 955,400 1,548,962 17,358,000
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 1,099,400 31,000 64,600 147,000 309,700 485,870 5,803,000
Income Tax Percentage 29.70% 39.74% 12.34% 37.79% 32.42% 31.37% 33.43%
Income just after tax 2.60E+09 4.70E+07 4.59E+08 2.42E+08 6.46E+08 1.06E+09 1.16E+10
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 2.85E+09 5.58E+07 4.66E+08 2.82E+08 7.22E+08 1.18E+09 1.30E+10
Improvement over old system 2.52E+08 8.82E+06 7.10E+06 4.03E+07 7.58E+07 1.16E+08 1.45E+09
Number of Employees 447,000 30,300 41,900 7,200 33,000 60,500 1,800,000
Improvement over old system/Employee $563.21 $290.97 $169.36 $5,599.35 $2,297.44 $1,917.59 $807.75
Extra wages and salaries 8.48E+08 2.22E+07 5.75E+07 1.07E+08 2.34E+08 3.70E+08 4.35E+09
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $1,896.30 $732.13 $1,372.41 $14,817.32 $7,087.41 $6,113.32 $2,416.14
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 77.10% 71.56% 89.02% 72.57% 75.52% 76.12% 74.94%

Bank of America Exxon Halliburton Yahoo Northwest Airlines Chevron Washington Mutual
BAC XOM HAL YHOO NWACQ.PK CVX WM
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 24,480,000 59,432,000 2,492,000 2,543,582 2,457,000 25,197,000 5,438,000
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 8,015,000 23,302,000 79,000 767,816 7,000 11,098,000 2,006,000
Income Tax Percentage 32.74% 39.21% 3.17% 30.19% 0.28% 44.04% 36.89%
Income just after tax 1.65E+10 3.61E+10 2.41E+09 1.78E+09 2.45E+09 1.41E+10 3.43E+09
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 1.84E+10 4.27E+10 2.42E+09 1.95E+09 2.45E+09 1.75E+10 3.97E+09
Improvement over old system 1.98E+09 6.56E+09 2.43E+06 1.78E+08 1.99E+04 3.39E+09 5.41E+08
Number of Employees 176,638 106,100 106,000 9,800 32,460 59,000 60,798
Improvement over old system/Employee $11,191.97 $61,856.73 $22.90 $18,166.73 $0.61 $57,516.26 $8,891.32
Extra wages and salaries 6.04E+09 1.67E+10 7.66E+07 5.90E+08 6.98E+06 7.70E+09 1.47E+09
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $34,183.32 $157,766.26 $722.38 $60,181.84 $215.04 $130,585.44 $24,103.19
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 75.33% 71.84% 96.93% 76.81% 99.72% 69.42% 73.05%

Merck Morgan Stanley Glaxosmithkline Goodyear Tire Ford Hewlett Packard Six Flags
MRK MS GSK GT F HPQ SIX
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 7,363,900 7,361,000 8,030,974 489,000 1,996,000 3,543,000 132,395
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 2,732,600 1,858,000 2,290,385 250,000 512,000 1,145,000 3,705
Income Tax Percentage 37.11% 25.24% 28.52% 51.12% 25.65% 32.32% 2.80%
Income just after tax 4.63E+09 5.50E+09 5.74E+09 2.39E+08 1.48E+09 2.40E+09 1.29E+08
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 5.37E+09 5.88E+09 6.25E+09 3.24E+08 1.59E+09 2.68E+09 1.29E+08
Improvement over old system 7.40E+08 3.74E+08 5.08E+08 8.46E+07 1.05E+08 2.80E+08 1.01E+05
Number of Employees 61,500 53,218 100,728 80,000 300,000 150,000 2,500
Improvement over old system/Employee $12,025.58 $7,036.38 $5,045.80 $1,057.17 $348.41 $1,864.37 $40.34
Extra wages and salaries 1.99E+09 1.48E+09 1.78E+09 1.65E+08 4.07E+08 8.65E+08 3.60E+06
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $32,406.94 $27,876.62 $17,692.52 $2,067.83 $1,358.26 $5,768.96 $1,441.66
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 72.94% 79.85% 77.81% 66.17% 79.59% 75.58% 97.28%

From the table above, the average increase in wages and salaries per employee is close to $1800, putting Walmart ($2400 average extra yearly pay / Walmart employee) above average in the increase of wages and salaries possible (An extra 82K for them for every 34 parent years, allowing one of their kids to go to MIT).

As you can see, despite the increase of wages and salaries for a variety of businesses, these increases in wages and salaries are not nearly similar for all companies.Â*Â*In particular, employees of high tech companies such as Electronic Arts, Yahoo! , Merck, and Glaxosmithkline fare better than employees of restaurants and retail stores.Â*Â*Employees of financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley, Washington Mutual, and Bank of America fare similarly to those of high tech companies.Â*Â*The biggest winners displayed here are the employees of oil companies, who lay the foundation of the energy pyramid whose existence is vital for existence of capitalism.
So far, the incentive for teenagers to go to college to get a degree so they can get a better job is not lost.Â*Â*In fact, one may argue that given the superior benefit automatically given to highly-skilled workers over less skilled workers is an impetus for higher education.Â*Â*Meanwhile, the higher wages for employees in companies such as McDonalds and Walmart may reduce the demand for student loans for college from what it would otherwise be in today’s world of increasing tuition in American universities.

What does the government get in return?Â*Â*A shorter to do list.Â*Â*When ignoring increased federal receipts via individual income tax and increased in social insurance receipts (about 84% of the value of the total federal receipts), the maximum value by which receipts will drop (via this change) is around 11% percent (the share of corporate tax receipts).Â*Â*The amount by which government activity can be reduced as a result of these raises in paychecks is obviously hard to calculate.Â*Â*Meanwhile, the value of federal government receipts from taxes increase every year by a few to several percent.Â*Â*Would you want a pay like those shown the table above that requires a reduction in government receipts of less than 11%?Â*Â*

The uh-oh list (if you simply lower corporate taxes):
Paychecks are not really increased by lowering of corporate taxes -> Percent of employed on welfare not really reduced by lowering of corporate taxes -> Lowering of corporate taxes (by themselves) have a non-maximum influence on the effectiveness of social security
In some cases, there is little incentive for a company to increase paychecks beyond minimum wage -> In some these cases, no there is no incentive for greater pay for any employees -> These companies can't significantly increase what they pay in payroll taxes, because they pay corporate tax -> It is harder for these companies to improve funding for social security / employee because of the corporate tax
A company with skilled workers leads to -> Better profits... However, no better corporate "tax credits" which are a function of increase pay leads to -> No new incentive to increase paychecks, such that -> Skilled worker's paychecks not directly affected by the hard work of the company as a whole -> Lower reap to sow ratio -> More work for less benefit -> Less happiness
Traditional corporate subsidies are not guided by an invisible hand -> Much of talk is then required to get a subsidy proposal passed -> So, the government and the corporation use more money, energy, and gas used to achieve the same benefit that would be achieved more efficiently under my proposal
One's demand for traditional welfare is in some cases lowered by lowering corporate taxes -> This should be transformed into a "definite" relationship by means of reform.
Lowering corporate taxes allows companies to spend more money and in some cases prevent employees from getting into loans and debt -> This prevention needs to be improved
Savings are not changed dramatically by lower corporate taxes alone -> Lowering corporate taxes make it easier for some employees (those who benefit) to manage personal savings (and for those who benefit, reducing debt is made easier) -> This relationship should be amplified

The shorter to do list (this system of corporate tax credits determined by the aggregate amounts of higher wages and salaries):
Fewer people on welfare -> Less money needed for social security
Greater pay for employees -> Greater funds from payroll taxes -> More funding for social security
A company with skilled workers -> Better profits... Better corporate tax credits -> Better paid employees -> Decreased unemployment (and greater productivity - i.e. more bang for the hour) -> "Positive animal spirits" (note: Keynesian term)
Introduction of large corporate subsidies guided by an "invisible hand" -> Less demand for other subsidies -> Less government management necessary to decide what subsidies are fair -> Less red-tape to deal with to get the same benefit -> Less waste -> Cleaner environment for government employees
Less demand for traditional welfare -> Less demand for borrowing money in the public economy for the purpose of traditional welfare
Less demand for borrowing money in the private economy -> Lower interest rates are possible -> Less demand for borrowing money...
Greater savings (definitely in the short-term) and debt is easier to pay -> Deficits in the public and private sector are easier to manage

Corporate welfare should primarily be an investment in maintaining human capital so that net human capital costs are ultimately minimized by better welfare whose underestimated importance is under-recognized.Â*Â*I say "ultimately," because quality is a means of assurance.

PittsburghAfterDark
09-21-2006, 04:36 PM
Very lengthy read, your tables and figures are hard to follow though.

I would suggest breaking out a single business in each category/example and highlighting it so it's easier to follow.

Excellent post, I hope you have more of these.

You're on the right track from an argument standpoint. If government is going to offer tax incentives and tax credits to business it does make sense to maximize those aspects in relation to human capital.

However I'll argue that health care is something best handled at the individual level as opposed to business level. The main reason benefit packages were offered was because of civillian wages and rationing during World War II. If there was nothing increased money could buy; cars, tires, washers/dryers, refrigerators, homes because of rationing business needed to incentivize people with something besides straight cash to come work for them. Since domestic health care had no such rationing that was the most common carrot.

So employee health care was borne from corporate necessity. That's what it is today, corporate necessity. People are going to judge a job not just based on pay but benefits and incentives.

Accordingly industries where incentive packages are not paramount for employees; restaurants, retail etc. If you want to grow the number of businesses that offer a desired benefit you incentivize it through tax relief or credits.

Ultimately businesses will do what's best for business. If it's in their best interest from a PR, staffing and tax basis to offer health care they will.

kmarinas86
09-22-2006, 04:41 AM
Very lengthy read, your tables and figures are hard to follow though.

I would suggest breaking out a single business in each category/example and highlighting it so it's easier to follow.

Excellent post, I hope you have more of these.

You're on the right track from an argument standpoint.Â*Â*If government is going to offer tax incentives and tax credits to business it does make sense to maximize those aspects in relation to human capital.

In accordance with the formula in my previous post:

Estimated income tax percentage = Income Tax Expense / Income Before Tax
Income just after tax = Income Before Tax - Income Tax Expense
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense = Income Before Tax / (1 + Estimated income tax percentage)
Extra wages and salaries = Proposed corporate income tax credit equal to the corporate tax = Estimated income tax percentage * Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense
"Improvement over old system" = Estimated income tax percentage * Extra wages and salaries ... The amount the company profits from paying their workers extra wages and salaries due to the corporate tax credit

McDonalds
MCD
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 3,701,600
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 1,099,400
Income Tax Percentage 29.70%
Income just after tax 2.60E+09
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 2.85E+09
Improvement over old system 2.52E+08
Number of Employees 447,000
Improvement over old system/Employee $563.21
Extra wages and salaries 8.48E+08
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $1,896.30
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 77.10%

Bank of America
BAC
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 24,480,000
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 8,015,000
Income Tax Percentage 32.74%
Income just after tax 1.65E+10
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 1.84E+10
Improvement over old system 1.98E+09
Number of Employees 176,638
Improvement over old system/Employee $11,191.97
Extra wages and salaries 6.04E+09
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $34,183.32
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 75.33%

Merck
MRK
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 7,363,900
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 2,732,600
Income Tax Percentage 37.11%
Income just after tax 4.63E+09
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 5.37E+09
Improvement over old system 7.40E+08
Number of Employees 61,500
Improvement over old system/Employee $12,025.58
Extra wages and salaries 1.99E+09
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $32,406.94
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 72.94%

Exxon
XOM
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 59,432,000
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 23,302,000
Income Tax Percentage 39.21%
Income just after tax 3.61E+10
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 4.27E+10
Improvement over old system 6.56E+09
Number of Employees 106,100
Improvement over old system/Employee $61,856.73
Extra wages and salaries 1.67E+10
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $157,766.26
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 71.84%

Morgan Stanley
MS
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 7,361,000
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 1,858,000
Income Tax Percentage 25.24%
Income just after tax 5.50E+09
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 5.88E+09
Improvement over old system 3.74E+08
Number of Employees 53,218
Improvement over old system/Employee $7,036.38
Extra wages and salaries 1.48E+09
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $27,876.62
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 79.85%

Blockbuster
BBI
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 523,500
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 64,600
Income Tax Percentage 12.34%
Income just after tax 4.59E+08
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 4.66E+08
Improvement over old system 7.10E+06
Number of Employees 41,900
Improvement over old system/Employee $169.36
Extra wages and salaries 5.75E+07
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $1,372.41
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 89.02%

Halliburton
HAL
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 2,492,000
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 79,000
Income Tax Percentage 3.17%
Income just after tax 2.41E+09
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 2.42E+09
Improvement over old system 2.43E+06
Number of Employees 106,000
Improvement over old system/Employee $22.90
Extra wages and salaries 7.66E+07
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $722.38
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 96.93%

Glaxosmithkline
GSK
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 8,030,974
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 2,290,385
Income Tax Percentage 28.52%
Income just after tax 5.74E+09
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 6.25E+09
Improvement over old system 5.08E+08
Number of Employees 100,728
Improvement over old system/Employee $5,045.80
Extra wages and salaries 1.78E+09
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $17,692.52
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 77.81%

Electronic Arts
ERTS
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 389,000
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 147,000
Income Tax Percentage 37.79%
Income just after tax 2.42E+08
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 2.82E+08
Improvement over old system 4.03E+07
Number of Employees 7,200
Improvement over old system/Employee $5,599.35
Extra wages and salaries 1.07E+08
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $14,817.32
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 72.57%

Yahoo
YHOO
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 2,543,582
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 767,816
Income Tax Percentage 30.19%
Income just after tax 1.78E+09
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 1.95E+09
Improvement over old system 1.78E+08
Number of Employees 9,800
Improvement over old system/Employee $18,166.73
Extra wages and salaries 5.90E+08
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $60,181.84
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 76.81%

Goodyear Tire
GT
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 489,000
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 250,000
Income Tax Percentage 51.12%
Income just after tax 2.39E+08
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 3.24E+08
Improvement over old system 8.46E+07
Number of Employees 80,000
Improvement over old system/Employee $1,057.17
Extra wages and salaries 1.65E+08
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $2,067.83
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 66.17%

ConAgra
CAG
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 955,400
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 309,700
Income Tax Percentage 32.42%
Income just after tax 6.46E+08
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 7.22E+08
Improvement over old system 7.58E+07
Number of Employees 33,000
Improvement over old system/Employee $2,297.44
Extra wages and salaries 2.34E+08
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $7,087.41
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 75.52%

Northwest Airlines
NWACQ.PK
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 2,457,000
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 7,000
Income Tax Percentage 0.28%
Income just after tax 2.45E+09
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 2.45E+09
Improvement over old system 1.99E+04
Number of Employees 32,460
Improvement over old system/Employee $0.61
Extra wages and salaries 6.98E+06
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $215.04
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 99.72%

Ford
F
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 1,996,000
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 512,000
Income Tax Percentage 25.65%
Income just after tax 1.48E+09
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 1.59E+09
Improvement over old system 1.05E+08
Number of Employees 300,000
Improvement over old system/Employee $348.41
Extra wages and salaries 4.07E+08
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $1,358.26
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 79.59%

Costco
COST
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 1,548,962
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 485,870
Income Tax Percentage 31.37%
Income just after tax 1.06E+09
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 1.18E+09
Improvement over old system 1.16E+08
Number of Employees 60,500
Improvement over old system/Employee $1,917.59
Extra wages and salaries 3.70E+08
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $6,113.32
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 76.12%

Chevron
CVX
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 25,197,000
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 11,098,000
Income Tax Percentage 44.04%
Income just after tax 1.41E+10
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 1.75E+10
Improvement over old system 3.39E+09
Number of Employees 59,000
Improvement over old system/Employee $57,516.26
Extra wages and salaries 7.70E+09
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $130,585.44
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 69.42%

Hewlett Packard
HPQ
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 3,543,000
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 1,145,000
Income Tax Percentage 32.32%
Income just after tax 2.40E+09
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 2.68E+09
Improvement over old system 2.80E+08
Number of Employees 150,000
Improvement over old system/Employee $1,864.37
Extra wages and salaries 8.65E+08
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $5,768.96
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 75.58%

Walmart
WMT
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 17,358,000
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 5,803,000
Income Tax Percentage 33.43%
Income just after tax 1.16E+10
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 1.30E+10
Improvement over old system 1.45E+09
Number of Employees 1,800,000
Improvement over old system/Employee $807.75
Extra wages and salaries 4.35E+09
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $2,416.14
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 74.94%

Washington Mutual
WM
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 5,438,000
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 2,006,000
Income Tax Percentage 36.89%
Income just after tax 3.43E+09
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 3.97E+09
Improvement over old system 5.41E+08
Number of Employees 60,798
Improvement over old system/Employee $8,891.32
Extra wages and salaries 1.47E+09
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $24,103.19
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 73.05%

Six Flags
SIX
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 132,395
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 3,705
Income Tax Percentage 2.80%
Income just after tax 1.29E+08
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 1.29E+08
Improvement over old system 1.01E+05
Number of Employees 2,500
Improvement over old system/Employee $40.34
Extra wages and salaries 3.60E+06
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $1,441.66
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 97.28%

Impressions I get from the relative difference among the proposed wages and salaries from different companies:
The closer the service is to the bottom of the energy pyramid, the greater the ratio of corporate tax to number of employees.
The employees who would recieve the highest wage and salary increases are the ones who would most likely start their own large business even if the extra wages and salaries were not there.
Exxon would attain a clear (and questionable) advantage:
Exxon
XOM
Income Before Tax (thousand dollars) 59,432,000
Income Tax Expense (thousand dollars) 23,302,000
Income Tax Percentage 39.21%
Income just after tax 3.61E+10
Income after wages and salaries w/o income tax expense 4.27E+10
Improvement over old system 6.56E+09
Number of Employees 106,100
Improvement over old system/Employee $61,856.73
Extra wages and salaries 1.67E+10
Extra wages and salaries/Employee $157,766.26
Extra wages and salaries / Loss of Income Tax Expense 71.84%

Exxon would have earned over 6.56 billion dollars more in a given year had my idea been implemented recently.Â*Â*To return to their original profits, they could have received 6.56*.3921/(1-.3921) less billion on sales ($4.23 less billion in sales).Â*Â*The cost of gas affects spending on everything else as well as increasing the prices of some services including airlines.Â*Â*It is questionable whether Exxon employees should be excluded from having such high extra wages and salaries.Â*Â*I'm not actually for or against it, just wondering whether that may be justified in the context of increased wages and salaries for the general working population.

However I'll argue that health care is something best handled at the individual level as opposed to business level.

I agree.Â*Â*As seen in the table above, the majority of the benefit goes to the employees.Â*Â*For example, Six Flags employees would recieve 97% of the benefits.Â*Â*On average, the employees recieve between 70% and 80% of the benefits.Â*Â*Therefore the accessibility to health care is improved primarily on the individual level.Â*Â*Some of these benefits to employees go away in the form of social insurance taxes, individual income taxes, and sales taxes.

Bad vs. Good
___________

Bad

The less money people/governments earn -> The more people/governments borrow -> The less money they are able to save -> The higher the loan interest rates -> The longer it takes to reduce the debt -> Higher total debt to GDP

Good

The more money people earn -> The less people borrow -> The more money they are able to save -> The lower the loan interest rates -> The sooner debt may be reduced -> The lower the personal debt -> The less of paychecks associated with paying personal debt -> The less of corporate sales associated with paying personal debt -> The more of corporate sales devoted to things other than personal debt -> The less of what people spend (of GDP) is needed for paying debt -> Less of paychecks are devoted to paying debt -> An increase in net worth -> An increase in investment potential

Currently strong relationship:
The more people earn -> The more they are able to consume -> The higher the GDP
To scale up this relationship, people need to earn more.

Decrease in corporate taxes -> An increase in investment potential -> An increase in net worth -> Less of paychecks are devoted to paying debt -> The less of what people spend (of GDP) is needed for paying debt -> The more of corporate sales devoted to things other than personal debt -> The less of corporate sales associated with paying personal debt -> The sooner debt may be reduced relative to corporate sales -> The lower the loan interest rates relative to corporate sales -> The more money people are able to save relative to corporate sales -> The less they borrow relative to corporate sales -> The more money people retain relative to corporate sales

Currently weak relationship:
The lower the corporate taxes -> The more that is invested
To improve this relationship, if diminishing returns of physical capital is worse than diminishing returns on human capital, focus investment on human capital.Â*Â*Make better investment in human capital mandatory for the proposed corporate tax credit to take effect.Â*Â*This will have a positive effect on net worth.Â*Â*In turn, government spending may be reduced because of the inequities that are due to negative net worth among the populace are battled at home and at the job (so that the government does not have to deal with them as much) - allowing personal responsibility to count for what it's worth.Â*Â*Debt that exists right now can be eliminated if people who possess the debt had some way of paying for it, and this becomes more meaningful if this improved ability were the result of working for a profiting company who profits from a corporate tax credit equal to extra wages and salaries.Â*Â*For this reduction of debt to mean more, it has to be the result of increase investments (particularly in human capital).

firefox
09-27-2006, 06:37 AM
This is quite odd and complex. On a similar note, did anyone read the July/August edition of Atlantic Monthly with the article about how some unions and some execs within Walmart want to give out "free" (to them!) medial benefits by pushing for socialized medicine, thus forcing all of US to pay for their medical bills? If it's true, this is some serious BS guys.

kmarinas86
09-30-2006, 02:05 AM
This is quite odd and complex. On a similar note, did anyone read the July/August edition of Atlantic Monthly with the article about how some unions and some execs within Walmart want to give out "free" (to them!) medial benefits by pushing for socialized medicine, thus forcing all of US to pay for their medical bills? If it's true, this is some serious BS guys.


Yes I agree, that's B.S., assuming that it raises the prices of Walmart products. If taxes don't change, it probably will. I don't mind Walmart prices where they at. Then again, I don't shop at Walmart =D. This maybe actually a good thing if it increases productivity and lowers prices at a result (or a bad thing for competitors).

firefox
09-30-2006, 06:17 AM
Dude it doesn't matter if the prices go up man. If you don't shop there, you'll be paying for it regardless in taxation.

kmarinas86
09-30-2006, 06:23 AM
Normally when one wants to increase wages and salaries, one must increase prices to generate more revenue. If it does, it only does temporary good, because then others will do the same, keeping the real wage about the same.

"At the end of this", the increased wages are trying to catch up with the prices. This is not good.

Why not let prices catch up with wages instead? How could that be done?

First, find some way that wages can be increased without increasing prices, this puts wages a step forward without an increase in price. It is important that the increase in aggregate demand remains relatively at pace with increase in aggregate supply. Therefore the increase in aggregate demand due to increased wages should reflect an increase in wages due to increased productivity. Therefore the increase in wages should be a function of productivity. We know that profit is a function of productivity, and that corporate tax is a function of profits. If extra wages and salaries are function of profits via some law which encourages companies to put x% of profits into extra wages and salaries as an alternative to an x% corporate tax, it would be in the company's best interests to do so. Purchasing power among a company's employees would increase relative to the prices of other companies. In this scenario, less purchasing power is given to the federal government, and more is given to the people in the private economy.

See the formula shown in the first post in this thread:
M=m+(s-a-b)(1-t)+corporate tax credit

Per the explanation give in the first post, a corporate tax credit equal to the extra wages and salaries of employees would actually increase the profit margin of companies, and therefore would be something companies would be interested in.

With a corporate tax credit equal to extra wages and salaries, lower taxes are rewarded for companies promoting the paycheck welfare of its employees.

If this system is pervasive, then local and state sales tax revenue will increase due to enlarged middle and upper class (see first post for the magnitude of increased wages and salaries). And because of the greater middle class, funding for social security and medicare would increase.