You’re Mitt for a minute. Let’s say you own 1,000 shares in XYZ Corp. out of 100 million shares outstanding, and the shares are trading at $100, and the dividend yield is 3%, your $3,000 in dividends is taxed by the IRS at 15% or $450. Not much, you say. But that money comes from XYZ’s annual income, which is already taxed at 35%. If XYZ has a 10% return on common equity, a decent but not outstanding year, the company pays the IRS 35% of $1 billion. You are one of XYZ’s owners, and you and your company pay $350 million in federal taxes, 35% of XYZ’s income, plus 15% of your dividends.