- economy
- Journal
- politics
- taxes
Tax the poor, at least they'll pay it.
Why don't we just abolish the income tax all together since the only people who are paying it are poor working slobs anyway. As this Bloomberg article from May details, major corporations are using loopholes in the tax laws to avoid paying what conservatives like to call the "high US tax rate" (actually historically quite low and quite similar to what you're paying as a poor working slob) to the tune of about $60 billion dollars a year. This isn't a new practice, its been going on for years, but in tight times, Americans who are in the streets protesting high taxes might be interested to find that most large corporations that Americans consider to be "American firms" are no longer "American" in any real sense at all - they are multi-national - and they shift their profits around (buying things from their subsidiaries located in other countries) in order to pay a lower tax rate somewhere else and avoid US taxes. This money (American money) is essentially making a net exodus out of our country and into foreign banks. American workers can't avoid their own income taxes in this way, and live under constant threat of audit by an increasingly draconian tax system for any possible infraction.
But what to do about it? Forcing largely American-based companies to pay the higher American taxes (by closing the loopholes) puts them at a disadvantage to firms in other countries, right? Then how is it possible that during what we consider to be America's most prosperous time (a decade or so post-WWII) the US corporate tax rate was the highest its ever been ? The sad fact is that these businesses are the robber barons of the modern era. They've discovered that America isn't the only market, and in fact is a rather small one compared to the billions of potential customers in China and India, and they are prepared to avoid their civic duty to support national infrastructure, education, and the public interest in order to reap the highest profits possible. Sure, companies like Wal-Mart will tell you that they're looking out for Americans by selling the cheapest crap you'll find on any shelf - but none of it is made here in the states - that money is going off shore, and it won't be coming back any time soon.