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I wonder if it was ever considered to pay companies / individuals according to their relative tax rate. So an employee would get 30-40% of the baseline, while international companies using offshore trickery get almost nothing.

Otherwise, like the article says, a large part of US stimulus packages will ultimately end up with foreigners or in Panama or other offshore tax havens. And that wouldn't help the US economy much.

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This would ensure that among individuals, those who need the stimulus most (people with lower income) would get the least money.

Good point, it seems this doesn't work well for people.

For businesses, I also agree that one would be discriminating against small businesses which were already struggling before corona and, hence, have low profits and as such low taxes.

But if your goal is to revitalize the economy in general, focusing on small businesses that used to be successful, e.g. artisan bakery and independent coffee shops, seems like a good way to spread the money around.

Good point, Trickle up instead of trickle down.

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