Sponsor-Whale and Ale
|
|
| |
Search by Artist or Event Name |
|
Our Suggestions:
|
 |
Archive
-
November, 2011
-
October, 2011
-
September, 2011
-
August, 2011
-
July, 2011
-
June, 2011
-
May, 2011
-
April, 2011
-
March, 2011
-
February, 2011
-
January, 2011
-
December, 2010
-
November, 2010
-
October, 2010
-
September, 2010
-
August, 2010
-
July, 2010
-
June, 2010
-
May, 2010
-
April, 2010
-
March, 2010
-
February, 2010
-
January, 2010
-
December, 2009
-
November, 2009
-
October, 2009
-
September, 2009
-
August, 2009
-
July, 2009
-
June, 2009
-
May, 2009
-
April, 2009
-
March, 2009
-
February, 2009
-
January, 2009
-
December, 2008
-
November, 2008
-
October, 2008
-
September, 2008
-
August, 2008
-
July, 2008
-
June, 2008
-
May, 2008
-
April, 2008
-
March, 2008
-
February, 2008
-
January, 2008
-
December, 2007
-
November, 2007
-
October, 2007
Home  At Length The $100 Billion Cure
|
|
The $100 Billion Cure |
PDF
|
| Print |
|
E-mail
|
|
Written by James Preston Allen
|
|
Thursday, 07 May 2009 |
It seems like we exist these days from one crisis to next––especially if you are logged into the current news cycles of the mainstream media. If it’s not the swine flu pandemic, it’s the Mexican drug cartels invading our borders, or the financial collapse of Wall Street. It’s hard to have any piece of mind with all of the incessant chatter of bloggers, pundits, and media talking heads. Some people just turn it off. Others fight back with their own non-stop blogging, personal sniping through the cyber-universe. We even received a piece of hate mail this week for our article on Jane Harman–unsigned of course. For the most part, more communication doesn’t really mean making more sense of things. But once in a while, a piece of the puzzle floats to the surface.
With the constant cries that the sky is falling, such as the s the state going to bankruptcy due to an $8 billion budget deficit; that the City of Angels will go bankrupt without an increase in parking meter rates by three quarters; that the City will go bankrupt if it didn’t start selling off it’s parking assets to some corporation to balance the budget. It’s like everyone is hyperventilating after the waiter informs you that there’s a frog in your soup.
The penchant for panic is almost reflexive, but panic doesn’t elicit great decisions. Harry Bridges, the founder of the ILWU, speaking on the subject of democracy reflected, “We said that the rank and file [union members] had the right to decide, and if you gave them the facts, they’d make the right decision.” In the great sense of this republic, you and I are the rank and file, the electorate who vote or not, but if you give us the facts, not the panic packed hyperbole. We will make the right decisions.
Just this week, President Obama held a press conference on the impact of
offshore corporate tax havens for which he has taken a lot of heat from conservatives. But in light of the recent Tea Bag revolts around this country on April 15, this seems amusingly odd. You see the gimmick that has been used these past three decades since the “Reagan Revolution” hit the nation–– the creation of tax loopholes for the super wealthy (read Fortune 500 corporations) to hide hundreds of billions of profits in places like the Cayman Islands AND TO PAY NO US TAXES on them! The 2007 GAO report to Congress names some of our biggest corporations. American Express, AIG, Boeing, Cisco, Citigroup, Bank of America and others stand out as prime examples of the biggest corporate tax dodgers. For example, Citigroup’s 2007 revenues were $159. 2 billion. They have 427 tax havens, 90 in the Cayman Islands. BofA’s 2007 revenues were $119 billion. They have 115 tax havens, 59 in the Cayman Islands.
According to an official U.S. Senate report last year, there were over 12,000 U.S. companies who maintained a corporate address in “one five story building in the Cayman Islands.” This prompted then candidate Barack Obama to remark,,“That’s either the biggest building or the biggest tax scam on record.”
It was later discovered by the GAO that the real number of addresses in this same building was over 18,000! The condensed version of this tax scam report can be found in an concise article titled, “Tax Shell Game-The taxpayer Cost of Offshore Corporate Tax Havens,” by Nicole Tichon, of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (www.uspirg.org/issues/tax-and -budget/close-corporate-tax-loopholes). It reveals that on an annual basis, many of our largest corporate citizens are collectively avoiding as much as $100 billion per year in tax obligations which over a decade amounts to $1 trillion in taxes!
The PIRG report even breaks down the lost tax revenues by states, and sure enough California is at the top of this list with an estimated annual lost tax revenues of $11,679,735,788. Now when the knee jerk conservatives and neo-Teabag tax protesters want to complain about having to pay too much on taxes, tell them that the reason, we the people, are paying so damn many taxes is because the tax burden has been strategically shifted on to them. President Obama has been accused of waging class warfare or even worse in American nomenclature, instituting “Socialism” to cure the economic catastrophe of American capitalism. But don’t you think that the effects of allowing this kind of tax burden shift from the wealthiest of our corporations on to the backs of small businesses and working class tax payers is in itself a kind of socialism for the rich? Isn’t this a kind of reverse class warfare that attacks the very foundation of this American republic?
Think about this– $11 billion in the state of California would have greatly relieved the budget crunch last February. Combine that with the $12 billion in tax cuts since 1993-94, described in “Propositions You Can Refuse” (p. 10), and the $8 billion or so of federal stimulus funds, and this would eliminate the need to cut essential state public programs and education. State tax revenues would then flow to the counties and cities, alleviating them of their own revenue short falls. The city council wouldn’t have to raise parking meter fees or sell off valuable public assets to cover its budget deficit. This is the big picture cure for what ails America right now and President Obama sees the big picture, but the Fortune 500 guys don’t like it. They and the media lap dogs that they own will try to spin this report on the facts of tax havens any which way to avoid paying their share of taxes, but a full IRS tax audit for them would be just too sweet to imagine.
I am not one to believe that money solves all problems, but right now an infusion of $11 billion in new tax revenues to this state would solve the problem of whether or not to vote for or against proposition 1-A through 1-F in the May 19 elections. I personally am going to vote against them all hoping that the continued crisis will force President Obama’s hand to collect the past due taxes that are owed by the 18,000 Cayman Island account holders.
Finally, for those conservatives who like to talk big about taking personal responsibility. Well it’s time that the CEOs of our wealthiest corporations, the ones who have been taking the bailout/stimulus money and then jacking up our credit card rates and stalling on lending it back, it’s time to step up to the plate of responsibility and pay back this country for the privilege of doing business here. Perhaps we shouldn’t close down the prison at Guantanamo too soon. It’s such a short distance from the Cayman Islands and our biggest tax cheats always dreamed of having a place on an island in the Caribbean when they retire.
|
|
|
Sponsor - Available Space
This space is available.
Box Size is 160x200.
Your ad could be here.
Call (310)519-1442
for more information.
|
Advertise with Us!
Deliver your message to thousands of readers every day.
Our readers are influential opinion makers, community activists, local business owners, and politicians.
Learn more about ads with our 2012 Ad and Publication Schedule.
Call our office at (310)519-1016
or email us for more information.
|
|
