tagged w/ Tax
-
-
Wake me from this twilight zone nightmare, please ?!? Considering the high price that each driving American has paid for gasoline throughout the decades, in the form of wars on the middle east to protect oil industry interests, the higher cost of monopoly controlled and exclusively used fossil fuels, the cost of pollution cleanup, and our decreased health from poisoned air, why, when the oil industry has been making heretofore unheard of profits, is there even discussion in Washington about adding yet another gasoline consumption tax upon the consumer?
The typical consumer is flat broke! We are underemployed, loosing our homes, without insurance, and many without food to eat. Yet, words are floating around Washington regarding a mileage based gasoline consumption tax, possibly layered upon the already existing gasoline consumption taxes at the pump. Excuse me for thinking, but every time one pumps gas, isn't that person already paying tax based upon the miles which they have already driven, and will be driving? How is such a new plan different is essence, and why is the administration considering another consumer tax when it's THE OIL INDUSTRY THAT HAS ALL OF THE MONEY, and benefits the most from our gas consumption? This seems everything from "ass backwards" to making no sense to me. Does it make sense to you?
Even the "notorious" Newsmax is railing against the idea; of course, they rail against anything Obamaesque, without considering that we would shout "tax the oil industry" for transportation and energy development funding! Read Newsmax's spin here:
http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/gas-tax-tracking-obama/2011/05/05/id/395346?s=al&promo_code=C36B-1Wake me from this twilight zone nightmare, please ?!? Considering the high price that... more
-
-
has been observed that most investors who do tax saving near closing of the financial year end up buying policies which don't match their financial objectives and are also an easy prey to agents selling bad financial products.has been observed that most investors who do tax saving near closing of the financial... more
-
-
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) admitted on Monday that the federal government is in serious need of extra revenue. But since taking control of the House in January, Republican lawmakers have scuttled proposals that could reap billions in added government revenue by better policing tax evasion, saying government tax collectors should make better use of existing resources in this era of fiscal constraint.
The U.S. government loses around $300 billion in revenue each year because of tax cheats, some of whom hide their earnings in offshore accounts or disguise them using complicated business structures, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Since 2001, tax evasion has cost as much as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts and the 2009 stimulus combined, according to the financial-services analysis firm The Motley Fool.
In February, the Obama administration requested $339.3 million in additional funding for the Internal Revenue Service in 2012 to chase this costly tax evasion. According to the IRS, that extra funding would be paid back twice over with the additional revenue brought in through enforcement.
Most outside economists agree.
"There is no question that the IRS agents are able to produce enough extra revenue to be a good return on that investment," said Wayne Angell, a conservative economist who is a former governor of the Federal Reserve Board and has previously worked for Bear Stearns.
Yet instead of supporting increased enforcement, the GOP has been trying to cut IRS funding. In March, the House GOP sought to strip $600 million from the IRS budget as part of the continuing budget resolution. IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman told a house subcommittee those cuts would cost the government $4 billion in lost revenue. The final budget deal left the tax collection agency's annualized budget unchanged at $12.1 billion, $486 million less than the Obama administration had requested.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) said the agency could better enforce tax dodgers without additional funds, mentioning a controversial private debt collection program that was defunded in 2009. "The IRS killed one of the most efficient and effective programs to collect back taxes just as the program was taking off," Grassley said in a statement emailed to The Huffington Post. "The IRS, like other federal agencies, has room to cut waste and work smarter."
But, Rep. José Serrano (D-N.Y.) said Republican efforts to slash IRS funding were a perfect example of the broader GOP strategy of "cut first, think later."
"Cutting IRS enforcement funding to reduce spending is like cutting off your nose to spite your face," Serrano said. "If tax cheats are allowed to run with their money without fear of an IRS agent catching them, the deficit will inevitably grow."
Republicans will try to cut the agency's budget again for fiscal year 2012, according to the Associated Press. The Obama administration has requested $244 million in additional IRS funding in 2012 to better investigate offshore tax evasion, spot corporate and high-wealth tax scofflaws and implement enacted legislation. The IRS estimates that these initiatives could generate $646 million in new revenue by the end of next year and projects that if begun in 2012 they could yield $1.3 billion in additional revenue in 2014.
Republicans have also said that increased IRS funding does not always greater revenue gains. Michelle Dimarob, a spokeswoman for the House Ways and Means Committee chaired by Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), noted that IRS enforcement-derived revenue went up by more than 17 percent in 2007, even though the agency's budget remained at 2006 levels. That year, the agency's enforcement revenue hit $59.2 billion, with a budget of $10.6 billion. In contrast, Dimarob said, the IRS collected only $57.6 billion in enforcement revenue in 2010, with a $12.1 billion budget.
David Cay Johnston, who teaches tax law at Syracuse University law and business schools, said cutting IRS funding would increase the deficit. But more importantly, he said, it would encourage lawless behavior by the most sophisticated tax cheats, who know how to circumvent a cursory audit.
"Here's the real question to ask: The Internal Revenue Service is the money-making division of the government. It's the sales department. Why would you cut your sales force when you have the budget constraints that we do?" said Johnston, who in 2001 won a Pulitzer Prize for his New York Times coverage of the U.S. tax code. "It is astonishing to me that people who want law and order on other issues want to handcuff the tax police.House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) admitted on Monday that the federal government is... more
-
-
-
By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
The super rich are different from you and me. For one thing, their tax rates are lower.
According to IRS statistics, the nation’s top 400 taxpayers increased their average income by 392% and slashed their average tax rate by 37% between 1992 and 2007, Dave Gilson reports in Mother Jones. Furthermore, when you factor in payroll taxes, the tax rate for Americans earning $370,000 is nearly equal to the rate for those making between $43,000 and $69,000 a year.
Meanwhile, at TAPPED, Jamelle Bouie notes that, in 2007, more than 10,000 Americans reported incomes of $200,000 or higher and paid no income tax at all. These lucky ducks are known to the IRS as HINTs, which stands for High Income, No Taxes.
Pseudo-farms of the rich and tax-dodging
The ultra-rich are using deluxe hobby farms to dodge millions of dollars in taxes, Yasha Levine reports for The Nation:
Take Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers and the second-richest Texan, who qualified for an agricultural property tax break on his sprawling 1,757-acre residential ranch in suburban Austin and saved over $1 million simply because his family and friends sometimes use the land as a private hunting preserve to shoot deer. Or take billionaire publisher Steve Forbes, who got more than a 90 percent property tax reduction on hundreds of acres of his multimillion-dollar estate in upscale Bedminister, New Jersey, just by putting a couple of cows out to pasture.
Agricultural tax breaks were originally designed to help farmers stay on their land as suburban sprawl grew up around them. As neighborhoods shifted from rural to residential in the 1950s and ’60s, farmers struggled to keep up with rising local taxes.
So, who’s a farmer for tax purposes? Levine reports that the standards are ridiculously low in many states, like New Jersey, where a yard full of weeds can qualify as a farm.
Worst of all, tax breaks for faux farms are depriving public schools of billions of dollars of desperately needed revenue. In Texas–which loses over a billion dollars a year in property taxes from pseudo-ranches of the rich and famous–hundreds of public school students are taking to the streets to protest massive proposed layoffs of teachers and support staffers, Abby Rapoport reports in the Texas Observer.
Tax me, I’m rich
A group of self-proclaimed “trust fund babies” is demanding higher taxes, Pete Redington reports for Working In These Times:
Resource Generation recently teamed up with another nonprofit that organizes affluent activists, Wealth for the Common Good, to form a Progressive Tax Campaign. They will be organizing and advocating a change in the policy, laws and perceptions of our tax system. Specifically, the campaign aims to draw attention to the social services that taxing the wealthy could fund, and advocates higher tax bracket rates for top income earners, as well as higher taxes on investment income.
Major debt
Student loan debt is likely to reach $1 trillion this year, outpacing credit card debt for the second year in a row, Julie Margetta Morgan reports for Campus Progress. Student loans can be a smart investment if they lead to a lifetime of higher earnings. However, Margetta Morgan notes, the average bachelor’s degree holder will shell out $250 a month for a decade to pay back the loan.
Many Americans won’t pay off their debt until their own children are in college. President Obama was still making payments into his late 40s.
As college tuition continues to rise, we can expect students to borrow even more for their education in years to come. Much of this debt is guaranteed by the taxpayer. Margetta Morgan argues that colleges should be doing more to educate students about smart borrowing.
The economics of happiness
Kristy Leissle reviews the new documentary, The Economics of Happiness, for YES! Magazine. The film argues that community is the foundation of happiness and that globalization is the enemy of community. The movie also examines what ordinary citizens can do to nurture their own communities.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about the economy by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Audit for a complete list of articles on economic issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, health care and immigration issues, check out The Mulch, The Pulse and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
The super rich are different from... more
-
-
Click pic for a very well done and comprehensive look at your tax dollars. The website is interactive, so if you click on a slice, it will show you what makes it up.
http://www.wheredidmytaxdollarsgo.com/Click pic for a very well done and comprehensive look at your tax dollars. The website... more
-
-
At a rally held in front of Chase Bank on Capitol Square today, a few dozen people gathered to air their grievances against Chase and other U.S. corporations who will pay no taxes for 2010. Jeff Kravat of MoveOn hosted the rally along with Gene Lundergan, who gathered a group of four or five people to present a tax bill of almost $2 billion to the branch bank manager. This bill, for $1.988 billion, was drawn up using Chase's 2010 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a December 2008 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report (pdf). When Lundergan, Steve Hughes of Young Progressives and several others approached the front entrance of the bank, they were refused admission by the security guard, so they left the bill propped in the front window.
Among those who spoke to the crowd was Kyle Bailey of the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG). "The weight of corporate tax dodgers ... is being carried by the rest of us," he said. "We urge our representatives in Congress to bring fairness to the tax code by ending tax haven abuse. The time for reform is now." These corporations make use of offshore tax havens and other taxation strategies to avoid paying U.S. taxes. As the crowd chanted, "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out" and "Banksters, you gangsters, give our money back," they started a march around the square to M&I Bank, the target of protests and account closures last month. As they walked, the ranks swelled, until there were upwards of 50 people rounding the State Street corner. They sang a chorus of "Solidarity Forever" with the daily sing-along group standing on the stairs by the "Forward" statue. When they reached the M&I branch, the front doors were immediately locked from the inside. The crowd sang "M&I will rob you" to the tune of Queen's "We Will Rock You" and chanted, "Where did all the money go? Down the Walker rathole."
On a day when ordinary citizens are submitting their tax returns, signing checks paying their fair share, these people of Wisconsin would like to know why BP, Wells Fargo, General Electric, Bank of America, Google, Goldman Sachs, CitiGroup, ExxonMobil, Boeing, FedEx, JPMorgan Chase and Amazon can get out of a cumulative $34.5 billion in taxes (according, again, to SEC filings and the GAO report).At a rally held in front of Chase Bank on Capitol Square today, a few dozen people... more
-
-
Tax Day is looming, and procrastinating yet law-abiding Americans are scrambling to prepare and submit their income tax returns to the federal government. Let’s face it, no one likes to give a portion of their hard-earned money to a group of people who typically seem to find ways to mismanage it. A couple of demographics in particular — single men under the age of 45 and rich folks — tend to have the most difficult time paying all they owe, even though they can afford it. Go figure that a few of the infamous tax cheats listed below fall under the latter demographic. They ultimately paid the price for their misdeeds, proving that Uncle Sam doesn’t take kindly to those who refuse to do their part.
LINK : http://www.criminaljusticeusa.com/blog/2011/the-10-biggest-tax-cheats-in-u-s-history/Tax Day is looming, and procrastinating yet law-abiding Americans are scrambling to... more
-
-
Former Indian cricket team captain Kapil Dev, who led India's win in the 1983 World Cup, said tax breaks considered by the Central government for members of the 2011 World Cup winning team, must be extended to all other sports as well.Former Indian cricket team captain Kapil Dev, who led India's win in the 1983... more
-
-
Bigger the Company, less the tax it pays.
They are effectively assisted by Accountants ,who under the guise of tax planning ,cheat the Government of Taxes.
Sting is the Government approves them and enroll them by training them/approving the Institutes that train them in their discipline.
They are called Financial Consultants,Chartered Accountants(chartered to evade tax?)
If the Accountants were to be honest, there would be no tax frauds.
http://ramanan50.wordpress.com/2011/04/10/google-and-general-electric-pay-no-taxes-get-bailouts-refunds/Bigger the Company, less the tax it pays.
They are effectively assisted by... more
-
-
Rep. John Boehner, speaking live, just announced that a budget deal has been reached.
-- Please add news as you see or hear it breaking --Rep. John Boehner, speaking live, just announced that a budget deal has been reached.... more
-
-
Here's a handy infographic that ties specific corporate tax cheats to specific cuts that affect all of us. If these corporations paid their fair share, we could uncut these budgets.
This is essentially living proof that there's hay in the barn, but we're not feeding the horses. Share this with everyone you know as we get closer to tax day, and feel free to use the embed code at the bottom.
http://bit.ly/h59KPzHere's a handy infographic that ties specific corporate tax cheats to specific... more
-
-
Google Inc. cut its taxes by $3.1 billion in the last three years using a technique that moves most of its foreign profits through Ireland and the Netherlands to Bermuda.
Google’s income shifting -- involving strategies known to lawyers as the “Double Irish” and the “Dutch Sandwich” -- helped reduce its overseas tax rate to 2.4 percent, the lowest of the top five U.S. technology companies by market capitalization, according to regulatory filings in six countries.
“It’s remarkable that Google’s effective rate is that low,” said Martin A. Sullivan, a tax economist who formerly worked for the U.S. Treasury Department. “We know this company operates throughout the world mostly in high-tax countries where the average corporate rate is well over 20 percent.”
The U.S. corporate income-tax rate is 35 percent. In the U.K., Google’s second-biggest market by revenue, it’s 28 percent.
Google, the owner of the world’s most popular search engine, uses a strategy that has gained favor among such companies as Facebook Inc. and Microsoft Corp. The method takes advantage of Irish tax law to legally shuttle profits into and out of subsidiaries there, largely escaping the country’s 12.5 percent income tax. (See an interactive graphic on Google’s tax strategy here.)
The earnings wind up in island havens that levy no corporate income taxes at all. Companies that use the Double Irish arrangement avoid taxes at home and abroad as the U.S. government struggles to close a projected $1.4 trillion budget gap and European Union countries face a collective projected deficit of 868 billion euros.
Countless Companies
Google, the third-largest U.S. technology company by market capitalization, hasn’t been accused of breaking tax laws. “Google’s practices are very similar to those at countless other global companies operating across a wide range of industries,” said Jane Penner, a spokeswoman for the Mountain View, California-based company. Penner declined to address the particulars of its tax strategies.
Facebook, the world’s biggest social network, is preparing a structure similar to Google’s that will send earnings from Ireland to the Cayman Islands, according to the company’s filings in Ireland and the Caymans and to a person familiar with its plans. A spokesman for the Palo Alto, California-based company declined to comment.
Transfer Pricing
The tactics of Google and Facebook depend on “transfer pricing,” paper transactions among corporate subsidiaries that allow for allocating income to tax havens while attributing expenses to higher-tax countries. Such income shifting costs the U.S. government as much as $60 billion in annual revenue, according to Kimberly A. Clausing, an economics professor at Reed College in Portland, Oregon.
U.S. Representative Dave Camp of Michigan, the ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, and other politicians say the 35 percent U.S. statutory rate is too high relative to foreign countries. International income-shifting, which helped cut Google’s overall effective tax rate to 22.2 percent last year, shows one way that loopholes undermine that top U.S. rate.
Two thousand U.S. companies paid a median effective cash rate of 28.3 percent in federal, state and foreign income taxes in a 2005 study by academics at the University of Michigan and the University of North Carolina. The combined national-local statutory rate is 34.4 percent in France, 30.2 percent in Germany and 39.5 percent in Japan, according to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jesse Drucker in New York at jdrucker4@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gary Putka at gputka@bloomberg.net.
MORE AT THE LINK!
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-21/google-2-4-rate-shows-how-60-billion-u-s-revenue-lost-to-tax-loopholes.htmlGoogle Inc. cut its taxes by $3.1 billion in the last three years using a technique... more
-
-
By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
As the Great Blizzard of 2010 blanketed New York City, most residents were blissfully unaware that their city’s 911 system was on the brink of collapse. The system fielded 50,000 calls in a single day, and at one point the backlog swelled to 1,300 calls. The mayor was called to account for the slow service and promised that it wouldn’t happen again.
But David Rosen and Bruce Kushnick report in AlterNet that New York’s close call is an example of a much broader and deeper problem. Cash-strapped state and local governments are raiding funds set aside for 911 service, and the system is hurting badly:
Hundreds of millions of dollars are collected annually by states and localities to support 911 services and much of it is diverted to plug state budget holes and meet a host of other demands. Most disturbing, 911 services are technologically bankrupt, held together by duct-tape and workarounds.
States siphoned nearly $400 million earmarked for 911 between 2001 and 2004. The law demands that the money, raised by a tax on every phone line, has to be set aside for 911-related services. Some states fudge the definition of “911-related” to fund things that had nothing to do with emergency services, like raises for courthouse staffers. Others just brazenly redirected the money into their general funds. New York collected $82.1 million in 911 taxes on phone lines in 2007, but only 19 cents out of the $1.20 monthly fee was spent on 911.
At least New York can account for its misdirected funds. South Dakota simply has no idea where its 911 money went, Rosen and Kushnick report.
Walker: Hurry up and die
Seemingly determined to cast himself as a Dickensian villain, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker presented a budget last week that would slash millions in funding for health care for the poor and the elderly. However, as I reported in Working in These Times, Walker recommended an increase in funding for a program that buries Wisconsinites who die destitute.
Medicaid roulette
Some governors are clamoring for more control over Medicaid, the joint state/federal health insurance program for the poor, Suzy Khimm reports for Mother Jones. Currently, Medicaid funding is allocated primarily by a matching system, with the federal government kicking in a certain number of dollars for every dollar the state spends. The states must abide by federal rules in order to qualify. Now, some Republican governors want to see Medicaid funding doled out in block grants. The states would get a fixed amount of money, which they could spend as they saw fit.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the fourth highest-ranking Republican in the House, is a leading proponent of this new scheme. She claims it would increase “flexibility” for states. In this case, flexibility is a euphemism for “massive cuts.” Washington’s Democratic governor, Christine Gregoire, has already convinced the Obama administration to exempt her state from certain Medicaid rules. McMorris Rodgers applauds the move.
Crisis Propaganda Centers
New York City City passed a landmark “truth in advertising” bill last Wednesday that would force so-called crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) to disclose that they are not health care facilities. CPCs are anti-choice ministries posing as reproductive health clinics. Among other things, the law will require city CPCs to inform potential clients that they do not refer for abortions or emergency contraception, Noelle Williams reports for the Ms. Magazine blog.
The logic of our sex laws
The cover story of this month’s Washington Monthly is a provocative analysis of Dan Savage, America’s most influential sex advice columnist, as an ethicist of contemporary sexual mores. The author, Benjamin J. Dueholm, is a Lutheran pastor and a longtime fan of Savage’s syndicated column “Savage Love.” Dueholm does a good job of summarizing some of the core principles of Savage’s ethos: disclosure, autonomy, mutual pleasure, and personal commitment to achieving sexual competence. His central critique is that Savage’s attitude is too consumerist and businesslike.
I would argue that there’s nothing inherently capitalist about Savage’s ethics. Yes, Savage’s ideal sexual world is based on consensual, mutually beneficial exchanges, like an idealized free market–but that doesn’t mean that realizing one’s sexual identity, or finding true love, is on par with picking a brand of laundry detergent. In consumerism, the customer is always right. Savage is constantly urging his readers to be active participants in a mutually satisfying sex life, not passive consumers who expect their partners to cater to them without giving anything in return.
USDA hearts Michael Pollan
Every five years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issues guidelines for healthy eating. Parke Wilde of Grist explains why this year’s edition is, in many ways, a radical and surprising document:
The new edition has a fascinating chapter on eating patterns, focusing on real foods and not just nutrients. This chapter on eating patterns provides a nice counterpoint to the reductionism — what Michael Pollan calls “nutritionism” — of scientific discussion of diet and health. The guidelines’ healthy eating patterns may or may not include meat. For example, the USDA Food Patterns and the DASH diet each include moderate amounts of meat and plenty of low-fat dairy. At the same time, the guidelines explain clearly that meat is not essential, and near-vegetarian and vegetarian diets are adequate and even “have been associated with improved health outcomes.”
This is a big departure for an agency that has historically been criticized for acting as a propaganda outlet for the livestock and dairy industries. But Wilde notes that, despite its enlightened discussion of the perils of “nutritionism,” the USDA hasn’t broken the habit of referring to nutrients rather than foods. The guidelines still recommend that Americans eat less saturated fat, without dwelling at length on which foods actually contribute most of the saturated fat to the American diet.
As nutritionist Marion Nestle explains in her seminal book, Food Politics, this mealy-mouthed advice is measured to avoid offending any lobby group that might take offense at the suggestion that Americans eat less of their product. There is no saturated fat lobby, but there are plenty of lobby groups representing the interests of industries tied to the major sources of saturated fat in the American diet, which include cheese, pizza, bakery products, ice cream, chicken, and burgers.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about health care by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Pulse for a complete list of articles on health care reform, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, health care and immigration issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
As the Great Blizzard of 2010... more
-
-
The Senate of Arizona has approved implementation of a new business tax. This tax will help Apollo Group, which is parent group of University of Phoenix. The tax was issued in a corporate bill of The Arizona Senate.
The Senate Bill of Arizona will improve multistage sales of businesses and operations. It will implement different formulas for computation of taxes of Arizona’s income. This change will let Apollo/ University of Phoenix to decrease its expenditures on annual tax. So the tax bill will contribute a $30 million to $50 million decrease in taxes on students.The Senate of Arizona has approved implementation of a new business tax. This tax will... more
-
-
David Cay Johnston | Mar. 3, 2011 08:43 AM EST
We take you now to the official data for important news. Federal tax revenues in 2010 were much smaller than in 2000. Total individual income tax receipts fell 30 percent in real terms. Because the population kept growing, income taxes per capita plummeted.
Individual income taxes came to just $2,900 per capita in 2010, down 36 percent from more than $4,500 in 2000. Total income taxes and income taxes per capita declined even though the economy grew 16 percent overall and 6 percent per capita from 2000 through 2010.
Corporate income tax receipts fell 27 percent and declined 34 percent per capita, even though profits boomed, rising 60 percent.
Payroll taxes increased slightly overall, but slipped per capita because the nation's population grew five times faster than the number of people with any work. The average wage also declined slightly.
You read it here first. Lowered tax rates did not result in increased tax revenues as promised by politician after pundit after professional economist. And even though this harsh truth has been obvious from the official data for some time, the same politicians and pundits keep prevaricating. Some of them even say it is irrelevant that as a share of GDP, income tax revenues are at their lowest level since 1951, when Harry S. Truman was president.
No matter how many times advocates of lower tax rates said it, tax rate cuts did not pay for themselves, did not spur economic growth, did not increase jobs, and did not make America better off.
Now that the news has been broken, let's see how many political leaders start speaking facts instead of fairy tales. And let's also watch to see how many Washington reporters, news anchors, talk show guests, and syndicated columnists use the actual figures. It's called holding politicians accountable, and it used to be a mainstay of journalism, where the first rule is to check it out and the second is to cross-check until you know what is going on and can give context.
The tables accompanying this column should be easy enough to read and turn into graphics for television, newspapers, and magazines, not to mention all those blogs and digital journals.
So how soon will we see Washington journalists holding politicians accountable for what they say about taxes, tax rates, revenues, economic growth, and jobs?
Here's some advice: Don't hold your breath. Washington has become a city of ideological marketing, where those who would note that the emperors have no facts are unwelcome in their own newsrooms. It is a city where access matters most and those who ask tough questions don't get access.
Just as real Mad Men persuaded millions of men to put that greasy Brylcreem™ in their hair and convinced many more that cigarettes make you healthier, pure nonsense about tax cuts spurring growth and paying for themselves gets repeated and replayed and regurgitated as if it had some basis in reality. But Washington is the marketplace of ideas and governance, not the marketplace of products. Lies about taxes sold by people with no regard for facts are at least as dangerous to our society as cigarettes are to smokers.
Consider this nonsense from the syndicated column by Thomas Sowell, who holds the Rose and Milton Friedman chair at the Hoover Institution. Sowell at least hedged a bit when he applied the word "often," writing in December:
High tax rates on paper, that many people avoid, often does not bring in as much tax revenue as lower tax rates that more people actually pay, after it is safe to come out of tax shelters and earn higher rates of taxable income.1
But two months later, this former UCLA economics professor seems to have made up his facts, writing in his February column that "in each case, going back to the '20s, the reduced tax rates have led to increased tax revenues for the government."2
On the radio and television, I hear this sort of falsehood posing as fact all the time, sometimes by people who cite Sowell. It was true in the century past, and for limited times, that tax rate cuts were followed by more economic growth and increased revenues. But that has not been true in this century. And some tax increases have been followed by economic growth, a fact Sowell neglected to mention. Over time, as the facts have mounted, the leaders of the "tax cuts good, taxes bad" school have started moving from the unsupportable to the cleverly worded. Consider this quite typical 2003 report from Daniel J. Mitchell, then at the Heritage Foundation and now at the Cato Institute:(more at link & source material)David Cay Johnston | Mar. 3, 2011 08:43 AM EST
We take you now to the official data... more
-
-
Over the weekend, Americans all over the country staged demonstrations demanding that corporations pay their fair share in taxes. As ThinkProgress’ Zaid Jilani reported, many of America’s largest and most profitable corporations, like ExxonMobil, CitiGroup Bank of America, have managed to avoid paying any corporate taxes for most quarters in recent years. As corporations pay out record bonuses and compile billions in untaxed profits, corrupt politicians are trying to force regular Americans to give up benefits and social programs to pay down the deficit.
At the summit, ThinkProgress approached two conservative Republicans, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), to talk about corporate tax dodgers as well as the burgeoning “Main Street Movement“/US-UnCut efforts (US-UnCut is modeled after the UK group demanding British tax dodging corporations pay their fair share). Asked how he feels about large corporations skipping tax payments, Franks was at first incredulous, telling us that they do pay taxes but simply “pass it along” to consumers. Reminded that firms like Bank of America and CitiGroup have earned profits and avoided paying taxes, Franks finally responded sternly: “Well, then they broke the law”:
FANG: A lot of liberals are hosting what CBS News has called you know a left-wing alternative to the Tea Party this weekend, demonstrations all over the country. And one of their key complaints is that corporations aren’t paying their fair share. And they give examples like, in 2009, ExxonMobil, Bank of America, CitiGroup, GE, none of these corporations paid a dime in corporate income taxes. Do you think it’s fair for these corporations not to pay income taxes? [...] But they’re using offshore bank accounts as loopholes–
FRANKS: Those things can be addressed. But the bottom line is, corporate income taxes, they’re taxes on the people, ultimately.
FANG: But they’re not paying any of these taxes.
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/28/gop-congressman-usuncut/
FRANKS: But what I’m saying is to raise corporate taxes or increase corporate taxes, won’t hurt the corporations, they’ll just pass it along. [...]
FANG: CitiGroup had one of its most profitable years ever in the last two years and they didn’t–
FRANKS: And you’re saying they didn’t pay any taxes on the profit?
FANG: Yes, in 2009. We don’t know about 2010.
FRANKS: Well, then they broke the law.
Similarly, we asked Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) if very profitable corporations like Bank of America, which paid nothing in corporate income taxes in 2009, were “paying their fair share.” Flake responded, “people’s definitions of fair share is different.” Flake laughed in disbelief, and finally responded, “I’d have to look at your figures.” (see video above)
Many corporation have seized upon various loopholes to avoid paying taxes. Google, for instance, uses a variety of foreign subsidiaries as pass through corporations. In the case of CitiGroup, the IRS offered the company an exception to long-standing tax rules in 2009 because CitiGroup was still owned by taxpayer because of TARP. Even after CitiGroup sold its taxpayer-owned shares, it continued dodging corporate taxes. A GAO study found that CitiGroup maintains 427 subsidiaries in tax havens like Aruba and the Bahamas.Over the weekend, Americans all over the country staged demonstrations demanding that... more
-
-
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/opinion/28krugman.html?hp
Texas imposes a low tax burden on the wealthy, relative to other states, but a higher than average tax burden upon the poor and their families. Children of the less economically advantaged Texan are less healthy than their wealthy counterparts, and presumably die in the sort of disproportionate numbers we see well documented elsewhere.
Facing budget deficits, however, the Republican Governor of Texas and his colleagues in State Government are resorting to deprivation of the already poor and suffering - for example, Medicare is particularly diminished, leading to lack of services for the elderly and the severely economically less advantaged and essentially certain to lead to excess deaths in that group, a predictability that renders the decision to cut Medicare - as opposed to taxing the already wealthy - tantamount to premeditated murder.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/opinion/28krugman.html?hp
Texas imposes a low tax... more
-
-
http://rosshunter.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Tax-Evasion-for-Dummies300px.jpg
A US tax evasion investigation that has prompted charges against several Swiss bankers has expanded to include Israeli and Asian banks, according to lawyers close to the probe.
The broadening of the investigation follows advice given by Swiss bankers, concerned at an initial probe into UBS, who allegedly told clients to shift assets to banks in other countries rather than report them to the US.
“Many of the Swiss bankers simply told their clients that they should move their money to other secret accounts,” said David Garvin, a criminal tax attorney in Miami representing account holders. He said the US government had made clear it was “going after any bank it knows to be a problem”.
Swiss bankers fear the US authorities, emboldened by information from thousands of taxpayers who have come forward under a voluntary disclosure programme, are poised to extend their investigations into more Swiss banks.
Their anxieties follow the indictment last week of four Credit Suisse bankers. While Credit Suisse says it is not under investigation and is co-operating with the inquiry, senior bankers and lawyers say it is only a matter of time before the bank is dragged into the probe, along with smaller Swiss private banks and even some public sector cantonal banks.
“The risk in the cross-border business has always been compliance. If you break these laws, you have to take the consequences,” said Oswald Grübel, UBS chief executive.
The US Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service have received information about accounts at Bank Leumi in Israel and China Merchants Bank, say Mr Garvin and other lawyers for account holders.
The US has not alleged either bank was engaged in wrongdoing. Bank Leumi said it was not aware of the investigation. A China Merchant Bank representative referred calls for information to its office in China.
Another lawyer said clients had voluntarily disclosed offshore accounts in New Zealand, Australia, India, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and the Channel Islands.
The expansion follows the IRS’s voluntary disclosure programme that prompted 14,000 individuals to report offshore accounts and unpaid taxes in exchange for leniency. Those disclosures have helped provide a roadmap for a crackdown on offshore tax havens. In 2009 the IRS opened criminal investigation offices in Beijing, Panama City and Sydney.
Last week’s conspiracy charges against the Credit Suisse bankers alleged one advised his client to transfer his account to an Israeli bank, which a person familiar with the matter identified as Bank Leumi. Two other clients allegedly transferred accounts to a Bahamas bank.
The charges also referred to two small Swiss private banks, subsequently identified as Maerki Baumann and Bank Frey. Previous charges in the UBS probe mentioned the Basel cantonal bank. There is no allegation that the three did anything wrong and all three stated their compliance with relevant laws.
Three weeks ago, US authorities arrested another Credit Suisse banker, Christos Bagios, who previously worked for UBS. Mr Bagios is in custody and his case is expected to be unsealed this week, a person familiar with the matter said.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.http://rosshunter.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Tax-Evasion-for-Dummies300px.jpg... more
-
