Corporate Inversion II
On the seventh of July, I wrote about corporate
inversion, the despicable and, (I believe)—although currently legal, unpatriotic
act of avoiding Corporate America’s fair share of corporate income taxes, i.e. their
support of the cost of our government—our country. Simply stated, this is an
act accomplished by moving a company’s corporate headquarters to a foreign
country in order to avoid taxes.
Within the last
two days, you have been literally bombarded by the media with the news of
Burger King’s contemplated acquisition of Tim Horton’s, the Canadian coffee and
donut chain, headquartered in Canada. Our maximum corporate tax rate is 35
percent and theirs is reported at 15 per cent, just below our effective rate
of 18 per cent.
I’m going to slightly
digress here to make a quick but related point. In these last two days, I have
heard more discussion in the TV media about corporate inversion than I have
heard over months of the past concerning this subject. Since most of our people
receive the majority of their news from TV than any other source, this point is
especially important, I think, because the planned Burger King inversion will
have less impact on our nation than other inversions which have occurred. I
think the extra attention paid to this by the TV media is due to Burger King’s recognizability
by the public when compared with lesser known corporations—it’s more
newsworthy, just one more example of corporate emphasis on profits than service
to their customers—in this case, informing the public by the TV media. Corporate inversion is a
serious subject having a significant impact on our country and our people. We
shouldn't have to wait for information to be profitable in order to receive it.
May 5th,
Bloomberg News reported that at least 31 publicly traded companies with U.S.
roots and executive offices in the U.S. are incorporated overseas. They’re
listed on U.S. exchanges, including the N.Y. Stock Exchange. Dave Johnson, a
fellow with Campaign for America’s Future and a senior fellow with Renew California, reports
in Campaign for America’s Future Blog that “The share of federal revenue coming
from corporate taxes has dropped from around 32 per cent in 1952 to 8.9 percent
now. As a share of gross domestic product, it has fallen from about 6 per cent
of GDP then to less than 2 per cent now. Meanwhile the rest of us—including
small domestic companies that don’t have armies of tax consultants—have to make
up that shortfall, either through increases in things like payroll taxes, or
through cuts in the things government does to make our lives (an insertion by
rjm: the prosperity of our country) better.” Dave Johnson goes on to tell us, “One
of the larger dodges is that we allow corporations to ‘defer’ (i.e. never pay)
taxes on profits made outside the U.S. So they engage in all kinds of schemes
to make it look like their profits are not made here. As a result many
companies owe very little tax on the proceeds from their U.S. operations, and
then defer their non-U.S. profits from being ‘brought home’ to avoid paying the taxes on non-U.S. sales. It is estimated
that as much as or even more than $2 trillion of taxable profits are being
hoarded outside of the U.S. because of deferral.” Pfizer alone, we are told, had
as much as $73 billion in taxable profits held outside the U.S. in 2012.
What about some
of our politicians whom we pay to represent us and take care of our nation’s
business? It was just reported on www.thewire.com
two days ago that John Boehner and Dave Camp (R-Mich.), the Republican
committee chairman who overseas tax policy, reportedly profited from one
corporate inversion deal. It was reported by Bloomberg that they sold “stock in
Covidien Pic within nine days of an announcement that Medtronic Inc. was
planning to take over the company. The stock price of Covidien jumped after the
announcement of the deal, under which the new merged company would be based in
Ireland and avoid paying U.S. corporate taxes.” It didn’t explicitly say, but I’m
thinking “Short Sale”.
First, the Corporatocracy and Power Elite take over
our government, buying our votes through mind control, propaganda, campaign
financing, buying the votes of our representatives (on both sides of the
aisle), lobbying, and revolving door hiring of those entering and leaving
government (yes they do it both coming and going). Then they take away our jobs
through outsourcing to slave labor abroad (compared to wages, benefits, and the
working and living conditions of our workers in this country, rendering us
uncompetitive in most instances, relatively speaking, these are slave laborers—in
my mind, without a doubt). Thirdly, they effectively stagnate our wages at
home; and, lastly, they are working arduously to take away our safety nets of
Social Security, access to National Health Care, and social welfare needs such
as disability insurance, food stamps, etc., etc. Now, they are doing everything
in their power to quit paying their fair share of taxes. I’ll leave for another
day the discussion of their exploitation and abuse of our natural resources and
the environment. Extrapolating into the future, these people, if allowed by us
to continue on their present course, will reduce the ordinary people of this
country and the world to little more than animals.
Alexandra Jaffe
of THE HILL–Ref: www.thehill.com, wrote on August 27th
about comments Mitch McConnell made during a private strategy conference hosted
by billionaires Charles and David Koch in which he laid out his strategy if the
Republicans win the Senate in the November election. He said he is going to
drop “all these gosh-darn proposals” being sponsored by the Democrats, “like
minimum wage and extending unemployment benefits, as ‘staggering and beyond
deplorable’. We’re going to go after them on healthcare, on financial services,
on the Environmental Protection Agency, across the board”. Also, he stood up
strongly for the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in their decision, Citizens
United v. Federal Election Commission. I call it the “Corporations are people
decision”. What all these people have been discussing has nothing to do with
hard work, do the right thing, equal opportunity, a government of the people,
by the people, and for the people, a free and prosperous nation, etc., which
they constantly proclaim. What they are putting forth and doing—right before our
eyes, is repression and, eventually, our enslavement. Followed to its ultimate
conclusion, we will be little more than serfs in their fiefdom, the fiefdom of
a world government ruled by the Corporatocracy
and Power Elite. You can be sure. It will no longer be a Shadow
Government then.
And you ask.
What can you do? You can stand up and shout. Get on Face Book, Twitter, and
other social websites. Let those “do nothing” representatives of our government
and sell-outs to the enemy know how you feel (And you can bet your sweet tooty
these people about whom I have been writing are your enemy). They are not
working in your interests. Write and call your representatives in the House of
Representatives and the U.S. Senate as well as the President. Call into C-span.
Let them know you are no longer apathetic. Most importantly, let them know you
are going to the polls and vote and then go. Do it!
Really,
isn’t it worth the effort? It’s your country. Protect it or lose it. Vote for tomorrow. It will
matter to you and your children then. Vote for tomorrow. Don’t vote for
yesterday. This is serious stuff. You don’t have to take this “crap” you are
being dealt.
Ronald Miller
Email me at mtss86@comcast.net
No comments:
Post a Comment