Here’s another example of where it could help. Take two men, one earns $75k/year (let’s say inflation adjusted) for thirty years as a bus driver. The other plays in the NFL for 1 year makes $2MM and thereafter only makes $250k over the next twenty five years. They’ve made the same amount of money over their lifetimes but the second man paid much higher taxes.
it makes sense that companies are taxed differently than individuals. corporate revenues and assets ultimately end up in the pockets of real people, either as wages or capital gains.
that said, I do think you make a good point about income tax. it would be more fair if there were some smoothing over time. another example of someone who might get screwed is a contractor with highly variable income. if I make $75k every year, and you oscillate back and forth between $25k and $125k, you pay a lot more income tax for no real reason.
But only some of those real people are subject to the jurisdiction of the country taxing the corporation. So while some corporate income is subject to double taxation some is not.
> the real difference here is there are no marginal brackets for taxes paid by a company.
Companies can smear revenue out over time to optimize the taxes they face. People cannot. The marginal part is orthogonal.