Letter: Fair business taxes

In regards to Don Lass's May 25 letter to the Daily Herald on taxes, he totally misses the calculation on how goods and businesses are taxed. Businesses are taxed on profits, not by the goods produced.

Say, I sell socks (I did). There is the cost of goods and then the markup to the retailer which would be the wholesale price. Say I produce a pair of socks for 70¢ and sell it for $1.00. I now have 30¢ that will have expenses taken out of it. If I have a profit of 3¢ which would be 10%, that would be good in most cases. Those expenses include salaries, expenses and all the myriad deductions that businesses can take, including lobbying efforts.

So at the 28.5% tax rate, it would be less than 1¢. So the direct effect is minimal to the consumer. Businesses utilize a lot of resources provided by us, the government, so there is nothing wrong in taxing businesses at what is considered a fair rate.

Dan Doviddio

Wheaton