“At one point, former President Reagan made a big, public issue about getting corporations to pay their fair share of taxes.” 

Sally says, “Yes, I remember that.   Why shouldn’t corporations pay their fair share of taxes?”

“Because corporations do not now nor have they ever paid taxes.”

“Come on, Charlie, that’s an absurd statement.   Corporations pay money to the government all the time.” 

“I’ll certainly agree corporations do send money to the government, which bring us to where the con comes in.   Who’s money are the corporations sending to the Government?   To answer that question, we simply need to take a moment and become aware of the basic economics of how a corporation functions.”  

“And that is...”  

“They add up the costs — the costs to produce the product, plus the costs for the factory, for the offices, and for management, plus the cost for advertising and promotion, plus a mark up for profit, plus the cost for taxes, plus however much more money they can get away with charging the customers, and that’s the selling price of their product.   That’s the price the public pays.   So who pays the taxes and who’s money are corporations sending to the government?  

Your money, my money, and the money of very other paying customer.   Corporations simply collect the tax money hidden within the cost of the product.   They collect that money from their customers and pass the money along to the government, yet Reagan and his handlers withheld this information from the public and proceeded to con a lot of people into demanding that corporations pay their fair share of taxes.

Heads they win.   Tails you loose.   They peddled the illusion that corporations pay taxes, and they peddled that story if it were a factual truth while knowing full well it was a lie.   And the public bought it, at least in part, because Reagan was their chief salesman.   Its such a great con that the public stills believes it to this day, and you, my dear Sally, are living proof of that”. 

  .

When a corporation pays no taxes on the portion of its product that is sold within the taxing jurisdiction, and pays tax on profits from sales outside the jurisdiction in which the manufacturing is done, it produces these results:   This eliminates double taxation.   It encourages corporations to produce their products close to where their customers are located, which reduces shipping costs.  It also brings in revenue from outside the taxing jurisdiction in which the manufacturing is done.   You might note that the present system is exactly the opposite.