Oct. 17, 2018
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should not permit corporations to use un-taxed dollars for political lobbying. It is simply unfair to permit one class to use un-taxed dividends for political purposes while compelling individuals to use after-tax dollars for political purposes. Corporate funds spent for a political purpose are nothing more than profits/shareholder dividends that are redirected away from shareholder dividends for a corporate investment. To permit this is nothing more than to advantage corporate sponsoring of political speech; sometimes for the direct purpose of undermining the will of the voting public. This political spending should be declared for the purpose of being taxed just as dividends are at both the federal and state levels. corporation must be made to use after-tax dollars for political speech just as individual citizens are. Thank you for considering my comment. George Paquin