> If the US had a globally competitive corporate tax rate (say 15%), it would make most of these tactics irrelevant.
Until Ireland further lowers its taxes. Your argument leads to a race to the bottom.
The problem with only taxing dividends is that corporations only pay out a small portion of their profits in dividends. I may theoretically be a billionaire in my holdings, but I only need a million in dividends per year to live my preferred lifestyle. Thus I only pay tax on the million dollars instead of on my billions. You can try and get at the money via capital gains, but what if the bulk of the money is being held by a foreign company, with only a small amounts to pay dividends to the owners filtering into the main company?
Until Ireland further lowers its taxes. Your argument leads to a race to the bottom.
The problem with only taxing dividends is that corporations only pay out a small portion of their profits in dividends. I may theoretically be a billionaire in my holdings, but I only need a million in dividends per year to live my preferred lifestyle. Thus I only pay tax on the million dollars instead of on my billions. You can try and get at the money via capital gains, but what if the bulk of the money is being held by a foreign company, with only a small amounts to pay dividends to the owners filtering into the main company?