Jun 30, 2011
Another Independence Day, and times are tough for everyone.
No, not everyone.
Sit back, get uncomfortable, and choose any one of these facts to make you mad.
(1) The financial maneuverings of a single hedge fund manager made him enough money in one year to give a $30,000 per year job to every one of the 168,000 unemployed people in Louisiana.
(2) One year of Bush tax cuts would pay ALL U.S. unemployment benefits.
(3) If the median household income had kept pace with the economy since 1970, it would now be nearly $92,000, not $50,000.
(4) The trillion EXTRA dollars a year taken by the richest 1% (by TRIPLING their cut of the income pie since 1980) would provide a $50,000 a year job for every college student in the United States.
(5) According to Citizens for Tax Justice, 12 of our largest corporations paid an effective tax rate of negative 1.5% on $171 Billion in Profits. The oil industry paid only 4% in U.S. federal income taxes over the past three years.
If you're not mad yet, maybe this will do it:
-- A GE spokesperson: "We are committed to acting with integrity in relation to our tax obligations."
-- Paul Ryan: I talked to [Boeing CEO] Jim McNerny a couple of weeks ago, their tax rate is extremely high, far higher than their competitors.
-- An Exxon spokesperson: "..any claim we don't pay taxes is absurd...ExxonMobil is a leading U.S. taxpayer."
-- Chevron CEO John Watson: "The oil and gas industry pays its fair share in taxes"
The reality, according to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is that the percent of total tax revenue derived from corporate taxes has dropped from about 20% in the 1960s to under 9% in 2010.
Why shouldn't profitable corporations and finance-savvy individuals pay back to the system that made them rich? Why shouldn't they pay for government-funded research, national security, infrastructure, and untaxed financial speculation opportunities?
They don't want to pay, and that should make the rest of us angry. But if you don't like being angry, heed the advice of Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein: "Everybody should be, frankly, happy...the financial system led us into the crisis and it will lead us out."
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Paul Buchheit
Paul Buchheit is an advocate for social and economic justice, and the author of numerous papers on economic inequality and cognitive science. He was recently named one of 300 Living Peace and Justice Leaders and Models. He is the author of "American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (2008) and "Disposable Americans: Extreme Capitalism and the Case for a Guaranteed Income" (2017). Contact email: paul (at) youdeservefacts.org.
Another Independence Day, and times are tough for everyone.
No, not everyone.
Sit back, get uncomfortable, and choose any one of these facts to make you mad.
(1) The financial maneuverings of a single hedge fund manager made him enough money in one year to give a $30,000 per year job to every one of the 168,000 unemployed people in Louisiana.
(2) One year of Bush tax cuts would pay ALL U.S. unemployment benefits.
(3) If the median household income had kept pace with the economy since 1970, it would now be nearly $92,000, not $50,000.
(4) The trillion EXTRA dollars a year taken by the richest 1% (by TRIPLING their cut of the income pie since 1980) would provide a $50,000 a year job for every college student in the United States.
(5) According to Citizens for Tax Justice, 12 of our largest corporations paid an effective tax rate of negative 1.5% on $171 Billion in Profits. The oil industry paid only 4% in U.S. federal income taxes over the past three years.
If you're not mad yet, maybe this will do it:
-- A GE spokesperson: "We are committed to acting with integrity in relation to our tax obligations."
-- Paul Ryan: I talked to [Boeing CEO] Jim McNerny a couple of weeks ago, their tax rate is extremely high, far higher than their competitors.
-- An Exxon spokesperson: "..any claim we don't pay taxes is absurd...ExxonMobil is a leading U.S. taxpayer."
-- Chevron CEO John Watson: "The oil and gas industry pays its fair share in taxes"
The reality, according to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is that the percent of total tax revenue derived from corporate taxes has dropped from about 20% in the 1960s to under 9% in 2010.
Why shouldn't profitable corporations and finance-savvy individuals pay back to the system that made them rich? Why shouldn't they pay for government-funded research, national security, infrastructure, and untaxed financial speculation opportunities?
They don't want to pay, and that should make the rest of us angry. But if you don't like being angry, heed the advice of Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein: "Everybody should be, frankly, happy...the financial system led us into the crisis and it will lead us out."
Paul Buchheit
Paul Buchheit is an advocate for social and economic justice, and the author of numerous papers on economic inequality and cognitive science. He was recently named one of 300 Living Peace and Justice Leaders and Models. He is the author of "American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (2008) and "Disposable Americans: Extreme Capitalism and the Case for a Guaranteed Income" (2017). Contact email: paul (at) youdeservefacts.org.
Another Independence Day, and times are tough for everyone.
No, not everyone.
Sit back, get uncomfortable, and choose any one of these facts to make you mad.
(1) The financial maneuverings of a single hedge fund manager made him enough money in one year to give a $30,000 per year job to every one of the 168,000 unemployed people in Louisiana.
(2) One year of Bush tax cuts would pay ALL U.S. unemployment benefits.
(3) If the median household income had kept pace with the economy since 1970, it would now be nearly $92,000, not $50,000.
(4) The trillion EXTRA dollars a year taken by the richest 1% (by TRIPLING their cut of the income pie since 1980) would provide a $50,000 a year job for every college student in the United States.
(5) According to Citizens for Tax Justice, 12 of our largest corporations paid an effective tax rate of negative 1.5% on $171 Billion in Profits. The oil industry paid only 4% in U.S. federal income taxes over the past three years.
If you're not mad yet, maybe this will do it:
-- A GE spokesperson: "We are committed to acting with integrity in relation to our tax obligations."
-- Paul Ryan: I talked to [Boeing CEO] Jim McNerny a couple of weeks ago, their tax rate is extremely high, far higher than their competitors.
-- An Exxon spokesperson: "..any claim we don't pay taxes is absurd...ExxonMobil is a leading U.S. taxpayer."
-- Chevron CEO John Watson: "The oil and gas industry pays its fair share in taxes"
The reality, according to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is that the percent of total tax revenue derived from corporate taxes has dropped from about 20% in the 1960s to under 9% in 2010.
Why shouldn't profitable corporations and finance-savvy individuals pay back to the system that made them rich? Why shouldn't they pay for government-funded research, national security, infrastructure, and untaxed financial speculation opportunities?
They don't want to pay, and that should make the rest of us angry. But if you don't like being angry, heed the advice of Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein: "Everybody should be, frankly, happy...the financial system led us into the crisis and it will lead us out."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.