Shareholders should not just profit from the upside, but eat the downside too, which his exactly what this is. You can't take the dividends, claiming "I took all the risks", and then expect the state to bail you out. No upside without downside. Skin in the game.
If the economy slows down and gross profit decreases, company A stops its dividend. Company B defaults and declares bankruptcy.
Do we really want to bailout only company B? Tax policy already pushes companies to look more like company B.
While that is true for a lot of large companies (kind of like the ones that shouldn’t be asking for state aid), for the small ones it’s very different.
As a small business owner myself, it matters hugely - if the company makes $100,000 in profit and I have to pay two employees $40k each, I’m barely making ends meet.
Honest question - how would paying yourself dividends change this math? Dividends have to come out of the same $100k right?