Corporations should pay more tax to fund public goods.

Daily Debate #626: "Corporations should pay more tax to fund public goods.". You are arguing FOR the motion. Your opponent: Bernie Sanders.

Corporations should not pay more tax to fund public goods because higher rates can reduce business investment, slow innovation, and lead to fewer jobs. Some economic theories suggest that corporate taxes are ultimately passed down to consumers through higher prices or to workers via lower wages. Critics note that higher domestic tax rates can encourage companies to move operations or headquarters to countries with lower tax burdens.

Look, you're spouting corporate talking points that don't match reality. American corporations are sitting on record profits while infrastructure crumbles and workers can't afford healthcare. If higher taxes killed jobs, we wouldn't have added millions of them after the 2017 tax cuts got reversed. Companies aren't leaving because of taxes—they're leaving for cheap labor, period. The real question is simple: why should working people subsidize billionaire shareholders? What's your answer when a diabetic can't afford insulin but Amazon pays zero federal tax?

You're conflating two separate problems. Yes, Amazon paid zero federal tax—but that's a loophole issue, not a corporate tax rate issue. We can close loopholes without raising rates that hit small manufacturers and regional companies actually creating jobs. Your "millions of jobs" claim ignores that job growth happens when businesses invest in expansion, not when government takes their capital. You want insulin affordable? Tax the pharmaceutical monopolies abusing patents, not every corporation. Target the cheaters instead of punishing the entire business ecosystem that employs people.

You just admitted the system is rigged—loopholes for giants, but you won't raise rates on anyone. That's how you get Amazon at zero while mom-and-pop pays full freight. Small manufacturers aren't leaving over marginal rate increases; they leave over wage pressure and supply chains. But here's what kills me: you cherry-pick pharma as the villain while defending the exact same corporate structure everywhere else. If targeting cheaters is smart policy, why not target all of them? Why does capital get a free pass while workers foot the bill?

You're flipping my argument on its head. I never said raise rates on everyone—I said close loopholes on everyone. Amazon pays zero because of accelerated depreciation and stock option deductions, not because the rate is too low. Close those specific loopholes for all corporations, and you fix the problem without crushing businesses that can't afford armies of tax lawyers. That's targeted enforcement, not a blunt rate hike that hits small manufacturers the same as megacorps. You want fairness? Make the rules fair for everyone. I'm offering that. You're offering to penalize the entire system.

You're describing a fantasy. Closing loopholes sounds good until Congress writes the exemptions—and they always do, because lobbyists write tax code. You think small manufacturers have less access to lawyers than they do to politicians? They don't. A clean rate increase on all corporations funds public goods now, not after a decade of legislative theater. Stop defending a system you admit is broken and just pay for what we need. Which matters more: protecting corporate profits or fixing crumbling schools?