[rmnunez]

I don't know whether corporations have become super-entitlement citizens or some sort of analogy to Lords of British yore. The tax issue is interesting because the corporations are ostensibly benefited this way due to their social contribution (particularly employment). Individuals benefitted with deductions tend to enjoy these through no social contribution. Some individuals could incorporate to obtain the fiscal benefits available to corporations. There are deductions available to individuals and not to corporations (as a consequence of marriage, dependants, health-care, home ownership and such).

The corporate right to free speech seems like baloney to me. Corporate communication is advertising to most of us and this sort of communication is explicitly recognized as subject to different rules than the non-commercial sort. Saw some interesting legal material on this relating to a case a couple of years ago against Nike for some fraudulent description of its Asian sweatshops. Nike's free-speech claim rested on some misrepresented Supreme Court case headnote in a railroad case.