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posted by CoolHand on Tuesday April 14 2015, @11:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the wish-we-were-in-the-one-percent dept.

Due to completely messed up U.S. tax policies, some even got a rebate check. Only small businesses pay taxes. Big companies often pay nothing at all.

Look at a new report from Citizens for Tax Justice ( http://ctj.org/ctjreports/2015/04/fifteen_of_many_reasons_why_we_need_corporate_tax_reform.php#.VSbihhPF8QY ), a Washington, D.C. group. It finds that some of nation's most famous brands have paid remarkably little to the government over the last five years. In fact, many actually enjoyed a negative tax rate: They received a nice rebate check from the U.S. Treasury.

The 15 giants highlighted by CTJ were chosen to represent a wide range of industries among Fortune 500 companies. They include CBS, Mattel, Prudential, and the California utility PG&E. Together, they paid no federal income tax in 2014, despite profits totaling $23 billion. CTJ's point is that these companies are not anomalies, they are examples.

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3044873/15-companies-that-paid-zero-income-tax-last-year-despite-23-billion-in-profits

 
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Fauxlosopher on Wednesday April 15 2015, @12:17AM

    by Fauxlosopher (4804) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @12:17AM (#170658) Journal

    I'm Ready For Oligarchy. The choice is clear. There is none.

    I can't draw a picture, so I use my words.

    There is always a choice. Some of the choices may be difficult, and some may even prove fatal to the decision-maker - but such a situation still does not change the fact that there is always a choice. Sometimes, the best choice is to choose something other than what oligarchs or even society in general present as the only choices.

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Wednesday April 15 2015, @01:10AM

    by Jeremiah Cornelius (2785) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @01:10AM (#170677) Journal

    Of course. The statement in the satirical "bumper sticker" is that there is no ELECTORAL CHOICE. :-)

    --
    You're betting on the pantomime horse...
    • (Score: 1) by Fauxlosopher on Wednesday April 15 2015, @01:17AM

      by Fauxlosopher (4804) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @01:17AM (#170679) Journal

      Agreed. It is plain that we USians cannot vote our way out of this mess.

      (I've currently chosen to take ever-increasing responsibility for my own life, with the goal of having nothing to do whatsoever with anything government is "selling". Charging across the White House lawn with fixed bayonets any time real soon is not something I see as something likely to produce positive change, whereas an increase in personally-responsible individuals is.)

      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday April 15 2015, @05:53AM

        by bzipitidoo (4388) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @05:53AM (#170784) Journal

        We can vote our way out of the mess. Vote with your wallet. Vote with your feet.

        What I find sad is how many people stayed with the big 4 banks, Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, and Wells Fargo, despite their culpability in causing the Great Recession, and even the terrible service they deliver on a personal level. It was only after Bank of America invented yet another fee that my dad was finally provoked enough to change banks. They paid a pathetic interest rate of something like 0.1% on his savings, but he stayed. They "accidentally" charged him a service fee they should not have charged, and we went running in to the nearest branch to inquire about it and get it fixed, but he stayed. They included copies of printed checks in the monthly statement, for free at first, then they started charging $3/month for this service, opting him in without asking. That wasn't quite enough. It also took a dumb and annoying question from yet another new teller (they have a very high rate of turnover) to finally push him over the edge, and switch banks.

        He still got punished. The IRS had his old bank info, and nailed him hard for a refused payment. It's their fault their system is so poor at handling updates to bank info, but we get punished for that. I thought bank fees of $30 were outrageous, but the IRS charges a penalty of 2% of the amount. As it happened, that was the year his income was hugely inflated thanks to converting his retirement money to a Roth IRA, so 2% turned out to be way, way more than $30. We appealed, and the IRS denied it.

        Why do people put up with Ticketmaster? I'd chose to skip the concert every time if the only way to get a ticket was through them. Why can't people live without cable TV? I think cable companies charge way too much, and I refuse to have their services. We could break the entertainment industry in an instant and make them change their attitudes about piracy, if we had the will. We could also stop such things as speed traps and bogus red light camera tickets created by taking advantage of too short yellow lights, if only people would fight this stuff rather than cowardly trying to avoid trouble. Yes, antelopes should not make trouble for lions. Don't run away, just let the lions kill them. Lions have to eat too.

        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday April 15 2015, @11:36AM

          by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @11:36AM (#170902) Journal

          Vote with your wallet. Vote with your feet.
          ...
          Why do people put up with Ticketmaster? I'd chose to skip the concert every time if the only way to get a ticket was through them. Why can't people live without cable TV? I think cable companies charge way too much, and I refuse to have their services. We could break the entertainment industry in an instant and make them change their attitudes about piracy, if we had the will. We could also stop such things as speed traps and bogus red light camera tickets created by taking advantage of too short yellow lights, if only people would fight this stuff rather than cowardly trying to avoid trouble. Yes, antelopes should not make trouble for lions. Don't run away, just let the lions kill them. Lions have to eat too.

          You are right, and that general approach is the only non-violent way we have to compel change. The electoral system is a charade, the government a criminal syndicate. So, opt out. Eschew the cable companies, take your house off-grid, sell your ICE vehicle, stop buying crap you don't need, grow as much of your own food as you can. We are now on the cusp of having the means to do all that without consigning ourselves to living at the level of hunter-gatherers. We can now live modern, technological lives without ceding all power to central control. So do. And help those around you to do so, too.

          Often we geeks relish our feelings of superiority because we understand and command technologies that most other people don't, or, when we have moments of compassion, we pity them. Often that's because we felt undervalued or bullied as young kids, and it's the natural reaction of the wounded social animal. But that's self-indulgent, and more importantly, counter-productive because it perpetuates the cycle of the oppressive status quo. If we really want the world to change, then we have to use our powers to not enrich ourselves (does the world really need another rich asshole in a ferrari, even if that rich asshole is us?) but to raise up those around us and do things differently.

          It takes courage and grit to do that, which are not qualities that geeks are commonly known for, so it's a high bar. But we have to because no one else will. Everyone else is either too co-opted or too beaten down.

          --
          Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Wednesday April 15 2015, @10:31PM

          by Jeremiah Cornelius (2785) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @10:31PM (#171216) Journal

          Your series of anecdotes and admonitions go further to illustrate that we do not live in democratically responsive form of republican government, but as the captive clients of Finance Capital rentiers, with money as the only actual medium for expression of speech.

          --
          You're betting on the pantomime horse...
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Hairyfeet on Wednesday April 15 2015, @02:17AM

    by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Wednesday April 15 2015, @02:17AM (#170697) Journal

    Insightful? What DaFuq mods? For just saying "Herpa de derp, choice" without even a single fricking example? And you KNOW why he didn't provide an example, because short of violent revolution there IS none! You have ALL of the major media outlets controlled by a handful of corps that are in on the game, you have a system where the highest office can NEVER go to anybody but one of the two, and a primary process where even a party outsider has ZERO chance of getting the nomination.

    Saying "there is choice" is like making an employee play 3 card monty with a street hustler to get his check and then when the employee can't win saying "well you should have played better". The game IS RIGGED, you can't "play better" or do anything different to affect the outcome of a fricking rigged game!

    --
    ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
    • (Score: 2) by Leebert on Wednesday April 15 2015, @02:53AM

      by Leebert (3511) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @02:53AM (#170708)

      short of violent revolution there IS none!

      If you have enough people to succeed at a violent revolution, you probably have enough people to just vote.

      Assuming, of course, the voting system is still mostly functional. They're working on that via gerrymandering and (thankfully mostly unsuccessful thus far) attacks on the voting system itself.

      • (Score: 2, Interesting) by tftp on Wednesday April 15 2015, @03:05AM

        by tftp (806) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @03:05AM (#170716) Homepage

        If you have enough people to succeed at a violent revolution, you probably have enough people to just vote.

        Actually, violent revolutions require far less than the majority. The latest example is Ukraine; population is about 50 million, but 10,000 well organized protesters were able to force the weak government to resign. That's only 0.02%. Even if you count supporters in other cities and claim 100,000 - it is still only 0.2% ... that's exactly why violent revolts are so popular - they can be done by a small group.

        • (Score: 2) by Leebert on Wednesday April 15 2015, @03:18PM

          by Leebert (3511) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @03:18PM (#170998)

          A fair point, and I suppose on consideration there are some notable counter examples in history.

          I'm not entirely convinced my position is wrong in the general case, but I'll concede that it's not absolute. In any case, certainly a position that warrants more fleshing out.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Mr Big in the Pants on Wednesday April 15 2015, @03:21AM

      by Mr Big in the Pants (4956) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @03:21AM (#170722)

      Bollocks.

      Although severely misguided the Tea party movement's only redeeming feature was that a motivated minority CAN make a difference.

      Now imagine if that was a well informed and better motivated movement that actually followed through?

      • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Wednesday April 15 2015, @09:29PM

        by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Wednesday April 15 2015, @09:29PM (#171188) Journal

        Bwa ha ha ha ha...I'll just leave this here [huffingtonpost.com] but just FYI the ones that formed the original "tea party" were ousted waaaaay back in late '08, less than 8 months after forming it in the first place, ever since then? Its just been a mouthpiece for the billionaire Koch bros and big tobacco. If you use THAT as an example? Then thank you for proving my point.

        --
        ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
        • (Score: 1) by Fauxlosopher on Thursday April 16 2015, @12:31AM

          by Fauxlosopher (4804) on Thursday April 16 2015, @12:31AM (#171257) Journal

          Freedomworks was a highly-visible latecomer that jumped in what they hoped was the front of the parade and started madly waving a baton around. While the term "tea party [wikipedia.org]" has been part of the American vernacular since shortly after 1773, the most current well-known political iteration under that term started as a suggestion by a few Internet authors to send in tea bags to federal politicians as a cautionary reminder that a portion of the population was getting angry over the continued financial fraud and related criminal activity ongoing with the aid and/or participation of the elected "representatives". One of the authors, Karl Denninger, has been angrily shutting down parts of his website(s) over the years in frustration over apparent reader inaction, so I am unable to provide you with a working source link [wikipedia.org].

          However, I was an eyewitness to the events and timeline in question, and at the beginning, the 2009-era Tea Party was indeed a spontaneous movement brought about by a multitude of independent individuals all working to move towards the same general goals of demanding an end to fraudulent financial schemes, government bailouts of fraudsters, and similarly-themed ideas.

          That the name has been coopted and derailed by outsiders does not change the fact that the original crimes were left unaddressed and that the participants are still out there and aware that their last efforts to play nicely within the rules dictated by the system did not accomplish what they see as justice demanded.

        • (Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Thursday April 16 2015, @05:12AM

          by Mr Big in the Pants (4956) on Thursday April 16 2015, @05:12AM (#171392)

          meh.

          This conversation is pointless if you are going to intentionally miss my points.

          Can't be bothered talking further and in the end nothing on this board will change anything.

          byee

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Fauxlosopher on Wednesday April 15 2015, @03:32AM

      by Fauxlosopher (4804) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @03:32AM (#170727) Journal

      Insightful? What DaFuq mods? For just saying "Herpa de derp, choice" without even a single fricking example? And you KNOW why he didn't provide an example, because short of violent revolution there IS none!

      I disagree: there are choices to be made in advance of a violent revolution, and although I recognize that violence in the form of self-defense (on both the individual and group level) is a legitimate choice, I sadly do expect outright war between the agents of the US government and We the People.

      In the meantime, the US fedgov is getting a full 75% of its spending money from the income taxes of private individuals. Have you bumped up your W-4 exceptions to a number high enough to have no income taxes withheld (and then decided to never again file a tax return)? Why not? That's a choice, a non-violent one, a principled one, and something that has the potential to starve the beast almost instantaneously.

      Have you chosen to reduce your quality of life such that you are officially below the financial level "required" to be a net contributor to fedgov coffers? If so, why not? That's a choice, a non-violent one, a principled one, and something that doesn't expose you to unusual risks of a personal confrontation with IRS collection agents.

      Human bodies are remarkable examples of the most advanced pieces of technology in the known universe. Do you really claim to need someone to hold your hand and point out specific examples before you consider re-examining your premises? Well, if you do, I just gave you a couple to consider. (Don't feel too bad, tho - I, too, once needed someone to hold my adult hand.)

    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday April 15 2015, @11:24AM

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @11:24AM (#170897) Journal

      That is exactly right, HairyFeet, the game is rigged. We all know it now. At least, enough of us know it. Those of us who do know it have now the duty to proclaim it far and wide, and to work on ways to overturn the card table. There is no other way forward.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
      • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Wednesday April 15 2015, @06:26PM

        by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Wednesday April 15 2015, @06:26PM (#171112) Journal

        Even though I do not support or believe in anything the libertarians do what convinced me was the videos they put up when Ron Paul was running. You had a major news anchor on camera tell the reporter to outright ignore anything from the Paul camp, even though at that time he was ahead in the polls of that state, you had county election officials say, again on camera, that "the votes we counted was not what was reported, they gave the votes we counted for Paul to Romney" and finally you have the RNC convention itself, where they called for a floor vote and somebody managed to get a vid from their cellphone behind the podium where the results of the votes was already on the teleprompter before the votes was even cast!

        Only a fool supports a rigged game and pretends it isn't rigged, and I'm not a fool. You have better odds of winning the powerball 3 times on nothing but 1s than you do of changing anything through the current system because the big money already controls the table, they have the MSM, they have the party officials, and they have the judges that decide any disputes. To think you can change all of that influence just by printing some flyers and getting out voters? Yeah and pull this leg it plays jingle bells!

        --
        ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
        • (Score: 1) by Fauxlosopher on Wednesday April 15 2015, @07:02PM

          by Fauxlosopher (4804) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @07:02PM (#171137) Journal

          To think you can change all of that influence just by printing some flyers and getting out voters? Yeah and pull this leg it plays jingle bells!

          Hairyfeet, I directly responded with explicit examples to your complaint about my post not providing any examples of choices. None of my examples dealt with addressing criminality in US government by voting at the polls. The author of the post you responded to does not appear to support change via voting at the polls, either, as he(?) refers to the game being rigged and a desire to find a way to "overturn the card table".

          If you're trying to come up with a solution that involves controlling other people, congratulations, your search is over: get yourself elected as a member of lawless US government. If you do not desire to control other people, the only approach left is to try to take control over your own self.

          • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Saturday April 25 2015, @07:23PM

            by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Saturday April 25 2015, @07:23PM (#175133) Journal

            What examples? Tax fraud, THAT is your big solution? You DO know that nearly all the "money" the country runs on is percentage lending where a bank with $10 can lend $100 based on "future earnings", yes? This is why the gov had to throw trillions at the 2008 crisis as banks were lending closer to $1000 on every $10 because "real estate always goes up". Maybe you should have a little gander at this video [youtube.com], made by a libertarian so perhaps he'll have more weight with you than a socialist like me, and see how much of the government's money is tied up in gambling on the stock market and banks. It ain't coming from you friend, or did you forget Mittens little "47%" gaffe already?

            If your theory would hold water the fact that a good chunk of the fortune 50 pay ZERO taxes [huffingtonpost.com] would have caused it to collapse years ago...but it hasn't, why? Because they can simply borrow more freshly printed money [usdebtclock.org] and anybody who refuses to take it can get bombed or invaded [time.com] so no worries. Think this is a new development? We haven't had any real say in this country in nearly a century [ratical.org] so if anything else was gonna work? It would have done so by now.

            --
            ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
        • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday April 15 2015, @07:09PM

          by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @07:09PM (#171143) Journal

          Yes that is the problem, and the proof. But you don't need those specifics. A person could observe that control of the federal government has completely, from Congress to the Whitehouse, changed hands in the last 20 years and nothing substantial has changed on a policy level. If that doesn't convince you that party politics are irrelevant, and that something deeper is going on, then nothing will.

          The government of the United States must be overthrown, somehow, some way. There is no avenue through the rigged game that it is. We all know it, even if we don't all have the words to express it. You and I and others like us can and will be crushed for observing it, but it doesn't change the fact that the keepers of this system shall all hang.

          --
          Washington DC delenda est.
  • (Score: 2) by Geezer on Wednesday April 15 2015, @09:44AM

    by Geezer (511) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @09:44AM (#170868)

    Jean-Paul Sartre and Soren Kierkegaard never had to live in 21st-century bankster America.

    Of course there is always a choice, but since the only effective way to undo the current system is violent revolution, until popular sentiment reaches critical mass the choice is either ride Hobson's horse or walk.