On The Massive Deputization Of Businesses For Tax Collection Purposes

Posted: 5/5/2019

Most citizens are probably not even aware that it is myriad of businesses who collect and remit the large majority of tax revenues to the government in most Western (OECD) countries.

Just read U.S. Businesses Pay or Remit 93 Percent of All Taxes Collected in America (published by the Tax Foundation on 5/2/2019)

To quote (emphasis added): “American businesses are critical to the tax collection system at every level of government - federal, state, and local. Businesses either pay or remit more than 93 percent of all the taxes collected by governments in the U.S. Without businesses as their taxpayers and tax collectors, American governments would not have the resources to provide even the most basic services.”

The standard arguments for this kind of arrangement are expediency of tax revenue collection, simplified processing, and a regular, very predictable, continuous flow of tax revenues in short evenly spaced, intervals throughout the year.

However, this process also represents a heavy case of very government power abuse over private businesses. It is way too convenient for government to subject businesses to this form of tax collection. This is another strong reason why politicians prefer to deal with large businesses.

Were individual taxpayers instead of their employers required to pay and remit taxes on a more frequent schedule, then many more citizens would be keenly aware how much of their incomes are actually taken away by government. We would probably see more tax revolts etc.

If a business were to refuse cooperation with the government on tax collection it would probably  be quickly forced to shut down, if a few individual citizens were to do the same, they might find the sympathy of follow citizens …

Just remember the famous quote from Jean Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683):

“The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing”

Our elected representatives have become experts in plucking our money.