You should at least take an introductory course in accounting. Taxes are included in the cost section of a company’s books. The accounting term “net income” accounts for taxes. It is described as the following formula:
Net sales (revenue)
– Cost of goods sold
= Gross profit
– SG&A expenses (combined costs of operating the company)
= EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation & Amortization)
– Depreciation & amortization
= EBIT (Earnings Before Interest & Taxes)
– Interest expense (cost of borrowing money)
= EBT (Earnings Before Tax)
– Tax expense
= Net income (EAT - Earnings after tax)
Now look at the following page that defines the ratios for financial statments (http://cpaclass.com/fsa/ratio-01a.htm). Note how many formulas use net income.
Consider this - a board, owner, stockholder etc. expects a certain percentage of return on their investment. If they dont get that return, they pull their money out. Thus the decision authority will set the net profit to where they can acheive that return. Thus the cost of taxes on the profits are included in the final price.
That’s all great. Now please use the information in your post to explain where in the process a high corporate tax burden is “passed along to the consumer.”