You are a shareholder in a publicly owned corporation.This corporation earns $4 per share before taxes.After it has paid taxes,it will distribute the remainder of its earnings to you as a dividend.The dividend is income to you,so you will then pay taxes on these earnings.The corporate tax rate is 35% and your tax rate on dividend income is 15%.The effective tax rate on your share of the corporations earnings is closest to:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

C) First the corporation pays taxes. It earned $4 per share, but must pay $4 × .35 = $1.40 to the government in corporate taxes. That leaves $4.00 - $1.40 = $2.60 to distribute to the shareholders. However, the shareholder must pay $2.60 × .15 = $0.39 in income taxes on this amount, leaving only $2.21 to the shareholder after all taxes are paid. The total amount paid in taxes is $1.40 + 0.39 = $1.79. The effective tax rate is then $1.79 ÷ $4 = .4475 or 44.75% which is closest to 45%.

You Are a Shareholder in a Publicly Owned Corporation