Hacker News Reader

Comment by harryh | Hacker News Reader

> Why shouldn't it be the companies doing business?

Why should it be the companies doing business? Just because someone happens to work for Walmart/Uber/whoever, I don't see why it means that employer suddenly becomes responsible for meeting any particular set of needs that person might have.

If we, as a society, decide that there should be minimum standard of living for citizens than we should fund that from taxes paid by all.

View on HN

> If we, as a society, decide that there should be minimum standard of living for citizens than we should fund that from taxes paid by all.

I agree, this is the other - perhaps bette - solution. But the corporations that reap huge benefits from public education, infrastructure, healthcare, etc. (and those who currently disproportionately profit from those corporations) need to start contributing their fair share.

As Mitt Romney famously said: corporations are people my friend. Which is to say, they are made up of people. Anything that is benefiting a corporation is benefiting those people. Those people pay taxes. That is how the fair share gets paid.

Tell that to Apple's 200B+ war chest, or to the profits that are distributed as dividends instead of being paid out as wages. A lot of the wealth created by corporations is not subject to income tax (only capital gains tax) and overwhelmingly benefits only those who can afford to be in the market.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com