Corporate welfare and other diseases
A tremendous amount of political wrangling has occurred lately over the new budget. The Republicans say we are spending way too much money, the deficit is getting out of hand, too many people are getting too many hand-outs and we need to stop throwing money at every social cause that comes along. The Democrats say they agree we are spending too much, but let's be cautious about who we put the squeeze on. The budget put together in the House cuts Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and just about anything social related. The Dems really don't have a clue what to cut; they just don't want to hurt the needy, the disabled and the retired. The question arises, which no one is really addressing "Why are we where we are?"
A couple of factors play into the reasons for the income shortfall, both at the Federal and State level. One is very obvious – an economic crisis has caused revenues to decline. People don't work, they don't make money, they don't pay taxes and the petty cash drawer suffers. The other factor that is not so obvious and the folks who run the country aren't talking about is – Corporate Welfare. Big businesses, the very ones who support the Republicans, aren't paying income taxes. Let's examine this.
General Electric posted profits last year in the U.S. of 5.1 billion (with a B) dollars. But guess what? They don't owe one single penny in federal income taxes in 2010 on profits from its U.S. operations. Dorothy Brown, a law professor at Emory University who specializes in tax policy, says what GE is doing is pretty common and widespread. "Corporations look for deductions to take advantage of just like individuals do to lower their tax rate." Also a government report from 2008 found that for each year between 1998 and 2005 at least 60 percent of the U.S. companies studied had no federal tax liability. Chew on that for a while.
Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT doesn't agree with big corporation's tax strategies. "We need shared sacrifice," he says. He is calling out GE and several other big companies, such as Exxon Mobil, Bank of America, Citigroup, Boeing and other companies who paid little or no tax in recent years. "Instead of throwing children off of Head Start or cutting back on community health centers, maybe we should ask Exxon Mobile to actually pay taxes rather that get a refund." Sanders says.
Like it or not, GE is playing by the rules. "GE is fully compliant with all tax laws. There are no exceptions," said Andrew Williams, a company spokesman. Williams does acknowledge that GE's 2010 tax bill will be "small" when it files later this year.
The Republican Representatives would have us believe that that Unions, State Workers Pension Funds, Medicare and Medicaid recipients and anyone who relies on the government to help support them are the evil empire who are responsible for the financial woes of the state and federal government. And while all these things do add up to a substantial burden on government finances, maybe if big business paid their fair share, the burden would be a little smaller. How much tax would be paid on 5.1 billion dollars?
But don't expect the laws to be changed any time soon. It's easier to attack you and me.
A couple of factors play into the reasons for the income shortfall, both at the Federal and State level. One is very obvious – an economic crisis has caused revenues to decline. People don't work, they don't make money, they don't pay taxes and the petty cash drawer suffers. The other factor that is not so obvious and the folks who run the country aren't talking about is – Corporate Welfare. Big businesses, the very ones who support the Republicans, aren't paying income taxes. Let's examine this.
General Electric posted profits last year in the U.S. of 5.1 billion (with a B) dollars. But guess what? They don't owe one single penny in federal income taxes in 2010 on profits from its U.S. operations. Dorothy Brown, a law professor at Emory University who specializes in tax policy, says what GE is doing is pretty common and widespread. "Corporations look for deductions to take advantage of just like individuals do to lower their tax rate." Also a government report from 2008 found that for each year between 1998 and 2005 at least 60 percent of the U.S. companies studied had no federal tax liability. Chew on that for a while.
Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT doesn't agree with big corporation's tax strategies. "We need shared sacrifice," he says. He is calling out GE and several other big companies, such as Exxon Mobil, Bank of America, Citigroup, Boeing and other companies who paid little or no tax in recent years. "Instead of throwing children off of Head Start or cutting back on community health centers, maybe we should ask Exxon Mobile to actually pay taxes rather that get a refund." Sanders says.
Like it or not, GE is playing by the rules. "GE is fully compliant with all tax laws. There are no exceptions," said Andrew Williams, a company spokesman. Williams does acknowledge that GE's 2010 tax bill will be "small" when it files later this year.
The Republican Representatives would have us believe that that Unions, State Workers Pension Funds, Medicare and Medicaid recipients and anyone who relies on the government to help support them are the evil empire who are responsible for the financial woes of the state and federal government. And while all these things do add up to a substantial burden on government finances, maybe if big business paid their fair share, the burden would be a little smaller. How much tax would be paid on 5.1 billion dollars?
But don't expect the laws to be changed any time soon. It's easier to attack you and me.
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