Wouldn't you have to rescind the concept that corporations can act as individuals as well?
I'm not sure whether this is a legal, moral or philosophical position but in the spirit of no taxation without representation then it seems right that all political lobbying by corporations would have to be ended as well.
The Supreme Court has never ruled that corporations are people. They ruled that corporations have 1st amendment protections. But yes, that was exactly the type of substance-free hot take I’m talking about.
> The Supreme Court has never ruled that corporations are people.
“Under the designation of ‘person’ there is no doubt that a private corporation is included.” Pembina Consolidated Silver Min. & Milling Co. v. Pennsylvania, 125 U.S. 181 (1888).
Among others. That corporations are people has never really been substantially in dispute (legal personhood is fairly expressly the central point of the corporate form as an innovation where partnerships already existed), though whether particular references to person, persons, or people in the law are intended to refer to all legal persons or only specifically to natural persons is sometimes in dispute.
Companies were never supposed to pay taxes on their profits, they were supposed pay dividends which are then taxed as income. The desire to tax that profit twice (or 3 times if you count consumption tax) is what creates this whole mess, because you fundamentally can’t force a company to make a profit.
The outcome of trying is a tax system that only applies to SME.
I'm not sure whether this is a legal, moral or philosophical position but in the spirit of no taxation without representation then it seems right that all political lobbying by corporations would have to be ended as well.