A tax levied on
corporations' profits. Because corporations are legal entities separate from their
owners, they may be taxed as if they were persons. A corporate tax, then, is the equivalent of the
income tax for natural persons. Corporate taxes vary from country to country; in the United States, they are levied at both the federal and state levels. Proponents of the corporate tax argue it guards against excessive profits that may result from unethical or illegal corporate practices, while opponents say that corporations simply pass on the tax to their customers.