Referring to corporate income made sense when company taxation was seen as a “back stop” within a system of progressive taxation of personal incomes. But most countries have now adopted “dual” income taxation that treat the fruits of capital more leniently than other personal income.
当公司税被视为个人所得税递进税制中的“定位杆”时，参考公司收入才是有意义的。但现在大多数国家都采用了“双重”收入税制，对待资本收益要比对待其他个人收入宽松。更为重要的是，公司收入的概念在本质上是武断的，因为它是基于对每一税期内资本消费的正确度量。但随着无形资产对公司价值的重要性的增加，这种度量正变得越来越不可靠。