[joachimma]

Why is it not their earnings? That pre tax income gets payed out and taxed, because someone worked for it. If someone did not work for it the company they work for would not pay the tax amount to the government. It exists because of someones work.

Once taxed it then belongs to the government, in a very real sense, the tax-payer no longer have access to it. While it no longer belongs to the tax-payer, it does not therefore follow that they did not earn it.

[djrobstep]

Why does the cheque sent to the government because of my labour count towards what I morally earned, but not the cheque sent to shareholders?

Why do some institutions (property law, contract law) count towards what I truly morally earned but not others (taxation law)?