Back to the original question:
The Conservative point of view has been that taxing corporation's net income, then taxing dividends is double taxation, and therefore dividends should not be taxed.
My point of view is that that taxing corporation's net incomes, half as much as would otherwise be taxed, then collecting the second half of the taxes when dividends are declared creates incentive not to declare dividends, but to reinvest a large part of the net income back into the company.
This encourages growth, expansion and job creation. Which in turn increases the over all value of the stock and help stimulate the economy in general. In the end, the stock holder stands more to gain.
Unfortunately, the wisdom of this system is lost on short-sighted Conservatives.
The Bush tax reductions on dividends correspond to a marked lack of economic growth with simultaneous high profits.
But gutting the economy for the sake of immediate personal profits seems to be the Conservative modus operandi.
I guess 'Trickle-Down' was just a big joke on us all!
Fortunately people a lot smarter than you make policy.
Not all companies can reinvest their earnings profitably. It is, and should be, a corporate decision what to do, without gov't monkeying with it.