Monday, October 04, 2004
Why aren't we hearing this?
President Bush is telling us that he is for us, that a vote for Kerry is a vote for tax increases and big government. When will someone raise the question asking President Bush whether his current tax breaks without any offset in government spending is a tax on future taxpayers?
Currently, the Congress is about to give the President a bill that would give corporations in the US another $50 billion in tax cuts. Corporations just recently received $13 billion, which means that large corporations have just received $63 billion in tax breaks.
The recent round come as a result of a bill in Congress that addresses a ruling by the World Trade Organization that a subsidy given to American corporations with business overseas was illegal. The President could have used the money that had gone to the subsidy to pay down our debt or to "offset some of the $146 billion" given to the tax cut extension signed by the administration last week.
If you are keeping score, the Bush administration has been enormously friendly to corporate America, all the while telling Americans that "help is on the way." In a report by Citizens for Tax Just and the Institute on Taxation and Economimc Policy, the authors examined 275 of the nation's most profitable Fortune 500 companies and found:
# Eighty-two of the 275 companies paid zero or less in federal income taxes in at least one year from 2001-2003.
# The companies who paid "less" experienced multiple tax-free years. In the years they paid no income taxes, these companies earned approximately $102 billion in pretax U.S. profits. Due to excessive tax breaks, the firms were handed tax rebate checks from the U.S. Treasury totaling $12.6 billion.
# Loopholes and other tax subsidies enjoyed by the 275 companies reduced federal revenues by $43.4 billion in 2001, $60.8 billion in 2002, and $71 billion in 2003.
#In three years, these companies received $175.2 billion dollars worth of tax breaks. Half of these tax break dollars went to just 25 of the companies.
Here is what the President had to say today:
And so when you cut individual income taxes on everybody who pays taxes, you're really helping our small businesses. And when you help the small businesses, you help the job creators. And when you help the job creators, somebody is more likely to find work.
Small business! Good one!
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Currently, the Congress is about to give the President a bill that would give corporations in the US another $50 billion in tax cuts. Corporations just recently received $13 billion, which means that large corporations have just received $63 billion in tax breaks.
The recent round come as a result of a bill in Congress that addresses a ruling by the World Trade Organization that a subsidy given to American corporations with business overseas was illegal. The President could have used the money that had gone to the subsidy to pay down our debt or to "offset some of the $146 billion" given to the tax cut extension signed by the administration last week.
If you are keeping score, the Bush administration has been enormously friendly to corporate America, all the while telling Americans that "help is on the way." In a report by Citizens for Tax Just and the Institute on Taxation and Economimc Policy, the authors examined 275 of the nation's most profitable Fortune 500 companies and found:
# Eighty-two of the 275 companies paid zero or less in federal income taxes in at least one year from 2001-2003.
# The companies who paid "less" experienced multiple tax-free years. In the years they paid no income taxes, these companies earned approximately $102 billion in pretax U.S. profits. Due to excessive tax breaks, the firms were handed tax rebate checks from the U.S. Treasury totaling $12.6 billion.
# Loopholes and other tax subsidies enjoyed by the 275 companies reduced federal revenues by $43.4 billion in 2001, $60.8 billion in 2002, and $71 billion in 2003.
#In three years, these companies received $175.2 billion dollars worth of tax breaks. Half of these tax break dollars went to just 25 of the companies.
Here is what the President had to say today:
And so when you cut individual income taxes on everybody who pays taxes, you're really helping our small businesses. And when you help the small businesses, you help the job creators. And when you help the job creators, somebody is more likely to find work.
Small business! Good one!
