Here’s a common trick used against the public. Have you heard that “Companies pass taxes along to customers”? This is nonsense as soon as you think about it.

1. Taxes are on profits. Profits are calculated the following fiscal year after expenses are subtracted from revenue. A company can’t know what its taxes will be ahead of time, so it can’t increase prices.

2. IF a company DID increase prices to “pass along” taxes, that would mean the company would bring in more revenue with the same expenses. That would mean more profit. That would mean more taxes. That would mean they would have to increase prices to “pass along” the taxes. That would mean the company would bring in more revenue with the same expenses. That would mean more profit. That would mean more taxes. That would mean they would have to increase prices to “pass along” the taxes. (Continue this until prices and taxes are infinity.)

3. Companies ALREADY charge the maximum they can charge before hurting their business. Unless they’re managed by idiots who actually believe they can raise prices any time they want to but haven’t yet.

4. Companies with competitors can’t raise prices without their customers moving to their competitors. Companies without competitors are illegal – it’s called “antitrust” and governments in the past would stop this, before governments became subsidiaries to giant companies that don’t have competitors.

5. Governments became subsidiaries to giant companies that don’t have competitors because voters believed nonsense like companies “pass along” taxes to the customers.