http://action.workingfamiliesparty.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KE...

AIG, the Wall Street insurance giant that was rescued from bankruptcy by billions in taxpayer bailouts, just reported nearly $20 billion in profit. But that big profit didn't come from being just the best insurance agency around. More than $17 billion came directly from federal tax giveaways.[1]

After pumping more than $180 billion of taxpayer money into the company, the Treasury Department rewrote its own rules to boost AIG's stock -- and its executives' bonuses -- by eliminating the company's tax obligation. Now, the New York Times reports that AIG might not have to pay a cent in federal taxes for a decade or more.

Wall Street fat cats getting fatter off federal bailout money and dodging taxes with the help of special favors from friends in high places? In case you forgot what started the Occupy movement in the first place, that's it.

Treasury changed its rules to let AIG get away with this in 2008. It needs to change them back.

If you're angry at Wall Street, you probably remember AIG's name. In 2008, AIG was on the verge of collapse. Then the Treasury Department stepped in, using $182 billion in taxpayer dollars, to prevent the company from going under.

After taking the bailout money, AIG executives (the same ones who agreed to back Wall Street’s infamous credit default swaps without assessing the risks) were scheduled to receive eye-popping bonuses from their taxpayer bailouts. The Working Families Party organized a bus tour to the homes of AIG executives, and under the spotlight of global media scrutiny, they said they'd give the bonuses back.

But once the spotlight was off, most of them didn't.[2]

They kept their bonuses and kept their tax breaks. But this kind of special treatment isn't fair. Join us in sending a message to Treasury Secretary Geithner, and tell him that AIG doesn't need the money.

Who benefits from this huge tax giveaway? AIG's top brass who are paid in stocks and the high-level traders who get seven-figure bonuses. The same people who made the decisions that led the behemoth organization to need a federal bailout in the first place.

So AIG's executives -- elite members of the 1% -- continue to get richer. And what about us? The federal government is missing tens of billions of dollars in tax revenue from AIG, and the Tea Party majority in the House demands that we pay for it in cuts to services for those who can least afford to lose them.

The Treasury Department, the keepers of our money, created this mammoth loophole in 2008, and can fix it without Congressional approval. We just need to remind Treasury Secretary Geithner that he works for us, not his Wall Street friends

Sign our petition to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner demanding that he make AIG pay its taxes.
http://action.workingfamiliesparty.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5588

1. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/02/27/bending-the-tax-code-and-lifting-a-i-g-s-...
2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/22/AR2009122203788....