Corporations

 

People

People
People who need people
Are the luckiest people in the world

Are Corporations People?

The SCOTUS is again facing the issue of whether Corporations are People. They faced it before in the infamous Citizens United v. FEC opinion. They are facing the question again in Moore v. the United States Of America. The Moores are arguing that they owe no taxes on foreign income because they did not realize this income. They have lost in every court decision so far, but the fear is that if decided in their favor that any corporate taxes on foreign income will also be rescinded.

Even if the Moores do unexpectedly win, Corporations are not People,  They are not enumerated as such in the US Census required by the Constitution. Yes, corporations are groups of people BUT they are special entities of the state created to ensure that the assets of the corporate officers or shareholders of the corporation are not confused with the personal assets of the corporate officers or shareholders.  That is what limited liability is all about. So the government AND the members of the corporation, have already decided that they are not merely groups of people. Any decisions affecting People should have no bearing on Corporate taxes because Corporations are NOT People.

In which case, Citizens United was wrongly decided by SCOTUS. If free speech is a constitutionally protected asset of the People, and the assets of the shareholders are NOT the assets of the corporation, then the asset of free speech was not transferred to the corporation. You can not have it two ways. Corporations can not be groups of people, when it comes to free speech, but not groups of people when it comes to liability. If corporations are protected from liability, then regulations that restrict the free speech of corporations are not in violation of the Constitution. Besides since there are no corporations on Death Row in prisons, even Texas seems to agree that they are not People, since they are not trying to execute them.