Another way tax increases can be mitigated is by an increase in productivity. Sometimes this takes the form of longer employee hours for no more pay and sometimes it comes from subtle threats of the consequences of NOT bringing about said increase.
I suppose you are correct in saying not every single tax increase can be passed to consumers but given that similar industries are generally taxed in a similar fashion then they are all in the same boat when it comes to being competitive with one another. If A suffers a bottom line hit then so will B. Perhaps the one that has the best cash flow/position and holds out the longest until the competition folds wins. Absent competition prices can safely rise.
There is more then one way to skin a cat.
I think we mostly agree on that. I do get tired of hearing Boortz and some others just make the flat statement: “Corporations don’t pay taxes,” as if they’ve said something profound and final. Well, they do pay taxes, and they can’t always pass every increase in operating expenses along to consumers, or they might have to delay passing it along. And corporations do like tax decreases for some reason.
Then we might hear the same people advocating a decrease in corporate taxes because it will make them more competitive in the world market. So, here they’re presenting the reason why corporation can’t always pass on a tax increase, because many of them must compete with foreign corporations who aren’t always subject to the same taxes.