far the most relevant to the current debate.
Every corporation uses the infrastructure of America to perform their business. The larger the corporation the more infrastructure it utilizes.
The roads, railroads, bridges, airports, ports, canals, power and electricity grids, the United States Postal System, the internet, telephone lines, cellular network, water, water treatment, waste disposal, military, police, firemen, etc, etc, etc, are all utilized by corporations more than any individual, town or small city.
Interestingly enough, the majority of these American assets were completely or partially funded using federal funds.
One example of how distorted and unfair our system has become is the distribution of federal transportation grants to states.
America's Interstate Highway System was 90% funded with federal funds from the Highway Trust fund originating from fuel excise taxes and 10% funded with state funds.
http://www.roadstothefuture.com/...
Corporations aren't totally to blame though. It's truly amazing to compare which states receive the most federal transportation funding for interstate highways with the state's political affinity. In general, Republican states receive a larger proportion of these funds than Democratic states.
http://www.gao.gov/...
The same states which vote Republican and collect the least amount in federal gasoline taxes therefor contribute the least to the federal transportation fund still manage year after year to receive more federal money than they contribute. These are the very same states which have the lowest gasoline prices in America because they keep their state gasoline taxes low yet have the highest gasoline costs as a percentage of income because they have the lowest salaries in the country.
http://money.cnn.com/...
These are the same states voting against any increase in the federal gasoline tax, even proposing the elimination of the federal gasoline tax.
http://money.cnn.com/...
These are the same states inviting corporations into their states to take advantage of these federal programs they themselves take advantage of and don't want to contribute anything to.
I wonder how many corporations are in these states taking advantage of the low cost of gasoline and the federally funded roads and highways yet still not paying their fair share in corporate taxes.