Just saw an article from Nation of Change asking the question should McDonalds and Monsanto have the same rights as people? I have given this a whole lot of thought over the last few years and I have finally come to the conclusion that Corporations should be granted the rights of citizenship. They should be treated as any citizen is treated, just as the readers who might have accidentally stumbled on this blog are treated. Just as everyone who eats a Big Mac and fries, or who uses Roundup to beat back them pesky weeds in the garden are treated. I mean, fair is fair and Corporations live here too. So let's treat them the same way we treat human beings. Lets give them all the rights and responsibilities that go with being a citizen of the United States.
Let's start with taxes. Since just about all taxpayers get deductions for mortgage interest and taxes paid to the State/County/City and little else, then Corporations should also only get those deductions. Since Corporations can't really have children, no deductions there, nor for depreciation of plant and equipment, payrolls, and the list goes on and on. Have you ever seen what a balance sheet looks like. The one they use to figure the NET Profit figure, the amount of profit that would be taxed after all the special "business deductions".
As an aside, this would make the job of the IRS and government in general easier because they would only have to worry about on tax code, one set of tax rates based on income, not a separate tax code for Corporations and Human Beings.
Next, a human being is subject to a moral code and Corporations should be subjected to the same code. I mean if a person knowingly does something that has the probability of harming another person, they can be brought up on criminal charges. In fact, there is a whole set of laws that can result in a person being charge, tried, and incarcerated if convicted. And since Corporations want to be treated just like real people then they should have to live to the same criminal standards that real people, human beings, have to obey. Right? I mean a law is a law and every person in the United States, whether a legal citizen or not, has to obey these laws or face consequences.
So if the Board and/or CEO at a corporation, say McDonalds, makes a decision to say use meat that they know could possibly cause people to get sick and/or die, they should be arrested, indicted, tried and if convicted of Depraved Indifference subject to the same prison term as a real human being would be required to serve.
The same thing for Monsanto. If they put on the market a product, say a GMO seed that has a Round Up production capablility and a person eats the produce with the roundup in it and gets sick and dies, well then Monsanto, the CEO, Executives, and Board of Directors who made the decision to invent and then market the product should be subject to criminal prosecution. And if convicted, they should all go to jail, and the company broken up, sold off with the profits of the sale going to the victims and the government equally, to cover the costs involved and the damages inflicted on their fellow "people".
And the same deal for Financial Industry Corps such as Goldman Sacs or Bank Of America. If they make a decision to push a product upon their fellow citizens, human people, that they know will result in, lets say the financial collapse of the World, and they make money on this action. Then they should be subject to criminal fraud charges, one for each instance of fraud, brought to trial, and if convicted then accept the penalties. The Execs and CEO and Board of Directors all go to jail in a high security prison, the company take over by the government, assets sold off with the proceeds being distributed in a way that pays the government for the prosecution and loss of taxes and the individuals who were financially destroyed by these actions.
And just like real people, each corporation should have a limited life span. Once a corporation reaches the age of say 67, it should be retired. That would mean that the assets would be sold and the after tax monies, if any, distributed to its owners equally.What I mean by distributed equally is, if there are 100 stock holders they each get 1% of the monies, regardless of the number of shares they hold.
I mean if you want to be treated as a "person" then you need to accept all the good and the bad that comes with the designation. If this is what they mean then I am in full agreement Corporations should be treated as "people". If that is not what they mean, then the argument, the very idea, should be flushed down the toilet of history as the load it really is.