corps and individuals can have lower effective tax rates. Corporations have a lot of ways to lower their tax bill but common things such as tax credits can significantly lower the tax bill. Take the R&D tax credit. A company can get a significant credit thus lowering their ETR, but the catch is that the company has to conduct the research in the US, thus this creates jobs and the US govt then gets tax revenues through payroll and individual income taxes. But the Dems never bring this up for context.
For the so called rich, most give tons to charity which brings down their tax bills and ETR. Heck, close to 50% of Americans pay no income taxes. The rich pay the most. I’ve heard rich people say that yes they can afford to pay more in tax but if the rates go up significantly, they most likely won’t donate as much to charity, so pick your poison. The rich also tend to create a lot of jobs with their businesses. No person is going to pay more than they have to including the rich. That’s how most became rich was by controlling their spending and cutting out things they didn’t need. I don’t like how Biden and the Dems vilify the rich and successful companies by implying they are doing something wrong to pay less taxes. That’s bs. They are doing what the law allows. Blaming successful companies and individuals for all the country’s ills is just a way to take the scrutiny off our govt officials for their screw ups. I’ve seen studies that showed you could tax the rich at 100% and it wouldn’t even put a dent in the national debt. Wasteful govt spending is the bigger problem and both sides have contributed to the problem.