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