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Charles Lewis
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The Free Market and the Myth of Less Taxes for
People:
Privatization has Increased the Tax Burden of People and Increased
Corporate Cheating
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Nipawin - Wednesday, February 6, 2002 - by: Mario deSantis |
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"In 1956, US corporate income taxes accounted for 28 percent
of all federal tax revenue. Today that number is down to 10 percent"
--Charles Lewis, coauthor of The Cheating of America
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economic
gospel
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We have shown that the Free Market is a speculative economic
gospel for the benefit of the big corporations and fortunate sons; in other words,
the Free Market is the realization of the economic philosophy to make money with
money through deregulation, privatization, and Free Trade. |
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government
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Sometime ago we discovered one private branch of the Canadian
Government with the reporting of the Human Resource Development Canada scandal, where billion of dollars
of federal money were doled out to friends of friends for job creation. A few days
ago, we learnt of another private branch of our government, Industry Canada.
Walter Robinson, of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
(CTF), reports in one article how billions
of dollars were doled out by Industry Canada to big corporations such as IBM,
Bombardier, Pratt & Whitney, and other household names. In particular,
we learn that Industry Canada has collected a mere two per cent of over $1.6 billion
it has lent in the last five years under the Technology Partnerships Canada
program; however, the collection record becomes 15% for some $3.2 billion lent in
prior years. With the consolidation of the Free Market the privatization efforts
of Industry Canada must therefore be commended. |
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corporations
pay
little or
no taxes
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The big corporations and fortunate sons have a better life
in the United States as they can pursue their American Dream by cheating.
The new book The Cheating of America is an investigative project conducted
by Charles Lewis, Bill Allison and the Center for Public Integrity.
We know that Enron Corp. didn't pay income taxes in four of the last five
years, and this is not an isolated case. Corporations have become more important
than people, they have taken over governments and therefore democracy and they are
now cheating the American people with the complicity of the government. Here are
some statements related to the book and extracted from the article Equal Under The Law?
by Charles Lewis: |
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from 28%
to
< 10%
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- The IRS estimates the cost of tax avoidance and evasion
is $195 billion a year, or more than $1,600 per taxpayer.
- In 1995, for the nation's largest corporations with
assets of $250 million or more, 1,279 out of 7,537, or 17%, reported no net income
to the IRS and therefore paid no income taxes.
- taxes paid by corporations on profits reported to the
IRS dropped from 26% to 20% between 1990 and 1997. By comparison, in 1997, 15% of
Americans' income went to the IRS, an increase from 13% in 1990. In other words,
the federal tax burden resides more and more with individual citizens.
- In general, the corporate share of taxes to this country
has been declining for decades. In 1956, corporate income taxes accounted for 28%
of all federal tax revenue. Today that number is down to 10%.
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-----------------References: |
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Lies My
Government Continues to Tell Me: New Corporate Welfare Info Validates Successive
CTF Reports Denouncing Handouts, Walter Robinson, CTF, January 29, 2002
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Equal Under The Law? What
About Enforcement? Charles Lewis, TomPaine.com |