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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: 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. :-)

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  • (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...