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The U.S. Has More Individually Owned Businesses than Corporations

1 min readBy: Scott Hodge

What sets the entrepreneurial middle class apart from other taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. payers is that they derive a large share of their overall earnings from pass-through businessA pass-through business is a sole proprietorship, partnership, or S corporation that is not subject to the corporate income tax; instead, this business reports its income on the individual income tax returns of the owners and is taxed at individual income tax rates. es such as S corporationAn S corporation is a business entity which elects to pass business income and losses through to its shareholders. The shareholders are then responsible for paying individual income taxes on this income. Unlike subchapter C corporations, an S corporation (S corp) is not subject to the corporate income tax (CIT). s, LLCs, and partnerships. These pass-through business owners pay their business taxes on their individual tax returns. Since the 1980s, the number of traditional C corporations has shrunk while the total number of pass-through businesses such as S corporations, partnerships, and sole proprietorships has tripled to over 30 million in total. Today, there are 1.7 million traditional C corporations, compared to 7.4 million partnerships and S corporations, and 23 million sole proprietorships.

For more charts like the one below, see the second edition of our chart book, Putting a Face on America's Tax Returns.

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