These next five days will bring untold stress to people who have not yet filed their taxes. If you’re confused and frustrated, know that even people who should feel comfortable with it have expressed their own dismay. Here, for example, is what William Simon, Secretary of the Treasury under Nixon, had to say:
“The nation should have a tax system that looks like someone designed it on purpose.”
Happy Thoughtful Thursday!
General Electric doesn’t pay taxes. If you were steamed by my posting about the NFL being classified as a non-profit and not paying their taxes, this should rile you up, as well.
The corporate giant GE has been taking advantage of “active financing,” a big tax loophole that lets them put off paying their taxes until…forever. In fact, they haven’t paid any federal taxes for the past four years. Because that loophole expired recently, you’d think they’d finally pay up and keep paying their fair share. Not if Senate Minority Leader Mitch MConnell has his way. He wants the active financing loophole renewed, and he doesn’t think that any of the so-far lost taxes should be recovered.
I’ve signed the petition at Credo’s website, asking that the “active financing” loophole be closed. If the situation bothers you, go there and sign the petition yourself.
The City of San Jose, CA is planning to house as many of its homeless as they can in local hotel/motel rooms, and some people are furious! Why waste money on these people who prefer to live on the streets and are too lazy or drunk to get a job?
It would be a waste of money–if that stereotype were true. However, many men, women, and children became homeless during the recession when they were laid off from their jobs and could no longer afford their mortgage or rent. Many women (yes, and their children) discovered that their divorce settlement left them with no funds and that their main job as stay-at-home mom (which, often, was what hubby wanted) paid nothing and made them look like they had nothing to offer to companies who were hiring. A good portion are veterans who, when coming home from the battlefield, had illnesses (mental and physical) that kept them from earning a living that would house and feed them. So, let’s set aside the faulty stereotype of the “typical” homeless person.
On the financial side, taxpayers should save some money: in emergency room visits for people who have become ill or hurt on the streets; from police who spend time rounding up homeless; from crews who clean up homeless encampments, only to return in a few months to do it all over again; in aid given to charities to help the homeless. Then there’s the gain in taxes once these people get jobs and back on their feet, which can happen only after they have safe, healthy shelter. And don’t forget the hotel/motel owners, with all the rooms that have been standing empty–more income for them means more tax money in the coffers.
Then there’s the fact that these people are part of our human family and, as such, deserve our efforts to help them help themselves.
Sounds like a reasonable deal to me.
I was surprised to learn that the NFL hasn’t paid taxes since 1966, when “professional football leagues” were added to the IRS code as non-profit organizations. That put them into the same category as tax-exempt charities, such as the Cancer Society, homeless shelters, and churches. At the same time, they were granted an exemption in the anti-trust regulations, giving them a monopoly in terms of negotiating TV rights, thus saving them even more money. (Maybe they need it to pay the up to $29 million yearly salaries of their top executives and the hefty contracts of their top players?)
It makes me wonder why the items we buy–tickets, hot dogs, beer, team clothing, etc.—are astronomically high. And why we put up with it.
I’ve signed a petition (from a reputable organization) asking Congress to revoke this obscene concession of being granted non-profit status and to insist that the NFL pays their share of taxes. If you’d like to sign it, click on http://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/end-the-nfl-s-charity-tax-break?akid=9865.3296984.wBYovR&rd=1&suppress_one_click=true&t=6.
An amount equal to ONE-HALF the GDP is held untaxed overseas by rich Americans.
The Tax Justice Network estimated that between $21 and $32 trillion is hidden offshore, untaxed. With Americans making up 40% of the world’s Ultra High Net Worth Individuals, that’s $8 to $12 trillion in U.S. money stashed in far-off hiding places.
Based on a historical stock market return of 6%, up to $750 billion of income is lost to the U.S. every year, resulting in a tax loss of about $260 billion.*
With that $260 billion a year, we could work toward balanced budgets while still funding programs that protect our poor and vulnerable citizens. If it’s taxable income, why isn’t it going into our federal bank account?
*Paul Buchheit, in Common Dreams
Corporations stopped paying HALF OF THEIR TAXES after the recession.
After paying an average of 22.5% from 1987 to 2008, corporations have paid an annual rate of 10% since. This represents a sudden $250 billion annual loss in taxes.
U.S. corporations have shown a pattern of tax reluctance for more than 50 years, despite building their businesses with American research and infrastructure. They’ve passed the responsibility on to their workers. For every dollar of workers’ payroll tax paid in the 1950s, corporations paid three dollars. Now it’s 22 cents.
[Paul Buchheit, Common Dreams]