A Grand Evasion: How Corporations Deprive Workers, Government, and Society by Widespread Tax Avoidance

Abstract

Corporate tax avoidance is a growing concern for the stability of America. Corporations are able to avoid paying their dues to society and instead extract economics rents from both workers and the government. This paper will begin by proving that the typical neoclassical assumptions about marginal productivities are flawed and that corporations have wage setting power. The second section will include an analysis of the strategies for and the prevalence of corporate tax sheltering, including a few case studies. The third section will address the negative externalities of tax avoidance on citizens and the government, and the fourth section will culminate the argument with a discussion of possible reform measures, including an extremely creative idea. The goal is to illuminate the irresponsibility of corporate tax avoidance and to encourage cooperative global efforts to redistribute income from the companies who hoard profits to the citizens they take it from.