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I don't think you understand what double taxation means. Double taxation refers to a specific item of income. You own a company, X. It earns income of 100 doing whatever. That income is taxed. This is the first level of taxation. The company then distributes that income as a dividend to its shareholder, you. That dividend is income to you. Thus, it is subject to tax again. This is the second level of taxation. If you had performed the income-generating activity directly (i.e., not through the company), it would not be subject to this second level of tax. However, at the same time, the use of the corporate entity provides significant legal and tax benefits. Thus, the double taxation is mitigated but not eliminated. Another example: Company X, based in the U.S., does some business in France. France taxes that income. That is the first level of taxation. The U.S. also taxes that income, due to its worldwide taxation system. That is the second level of tax on the same income. In this particular instance, we have a treaty with tax to eliminate the double taxation of that same income. (This is not true of all countries, for example, we don't have a tax treaty with Taiwan.) In your example, you ignore the basic system of US and EU capital gains taxation. When you sell a business, you are generally taxed based on the difference between [sale price] subtract [your "cost basis"] in the business. (Cost basis generally means the amount you paid to acquire the shares, or which you contributed to the business.) It is irrelevant that your business was worth $100k before it made another $100k--the tax code doesn't look at intermediary valuations, and it doesn't care about earnings when determining the tax on the sale of a capital asset. What matters is whether you have a "cost basis" in your shares of the business. If you acquired your shares for $0 (for example, you contributed your labor to earn those shares), then upon selling the business in your example you would recognize capital gains of $165k, not $65k. Usually, capital gain from the sale of a business relates to "goodwill" (i.e., brand value) rather than cash from earnings (and for property or other capital assets, capital gains are usually due to simple appreciation.) Double taxation is not usually a problem with capital assets, so the capital gains rate does not reflect a discount to remedy double taxation. Rather, capital gains rates are discounted to encourage investment in capital assets. |
Yes, I was assuming you purchased at $100k to illustrate the cost basis. I should have been more clear on that point.
If you want to argue that double taxation is justified as the price of limited liability, go ahead. But it's silly to compare the capital gains rate to the income tax and then ignore the corporate tax rate. Combined they amount to a lot more than personal income taxes. This is why the wealthy contribute such a disproportionate amount to the US treasury.