- April 3, 2023
- California Budget & Policy Center
- Kayla Kitson
Californians from all corners of the state — of all races and ethnicities, genders, ages, and abilities — deserve to be able to afford the basics and thrive in their communities, and a more equitable tax and revenue system would help make that a reality. All Californians share in the responsibility of paying taxes to support public services that keep the state running and help families to be financially secure. This responsibility also extends to the corporations earning profits in the state. These corporations benefit from the fruits of the state’s public investments, which provide them with an educated workforce; a transportation infrastructure to transport goods; a functional legal system, and much more.
As millions of people struggle with the high costs of living and recovery from the health and economic effects of the pandemic, corporate profits have surged to historic new highs in recent years. However, corporations now pay just about half of what they did in the early 1980s in California taxes as a share of their income. This decline is a result of cuts to the corporate tax rate and the creation and expansion of corporate tax breaks. In addition, corporations were granted significant federal tax cuts as part of the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” of 2017, and some corporations even manage to pay nothing in federal taxes.
Policymakers have many options to ensure that profitable corporations are adequately contributing to California’s tax revenues and supporting the services that we all benefit from. These options include — but are not limited to — increasing tax rates for the most profitable corporations, ensuring that all profitable corporations pay a minimum level of taxes, and combating corporate tax avoidance. Increasing tax rates and limiting tax breaks for corporations only affects those corporations that make profits in California, so these actions will not harm struggling businesses that are operating in the red.
Increasing corporate tax revenues would provide more resources to support solutions to the most significant challenges facing Californians, such as unaffordable housing, child care, and health care costs.