wouldnt it be nice to write your own paycheck?

SHOULD WE SUBSIDIZE PROFITABLE BUSINESSES?

HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH

CORPORATE SCREWING?

     According to a report on corporate tax payers and corporate tax dodgers (Stock options pad CEOs’ pockets) we are going to subsidize to the tune of 21.8 billion dollars in taxes to corporations in this last tax year. This is money that is lost as tax revenue despite these companies in some cases that are making money off the American taxpayers to begin with.

       A lot of the reason has to do with a loophole in particular that allows CEO’s and those in higher management positions in these companies to be paid with stock options and then the same executives who own these stock options then purchase the stock of their own company back with money saved in taxes the previous year, in effect increasing the price of their stock and manipulating their own salary, because as soon as they reach a certain level these executives are cashing in their personal stocks again flooding the market and devaluing the stock and making millions off these options. At which point their company then uses this loss to again to offset any tax in the present year they would have to pay and it is perfectly legal presently. Wal-Mart and General Electric have both took advantage of this and have rewarded their top managers with huge salaries.

     There is a lot of it going on in different industries and in the defense industry it is even worse despite the inflated costs of things like toilet seats and such. Whenever a defense contract goes out it is expected to cost a lot more due to the sensitive nature of defense and its needs. Also things like titanium and other metals or diagnostics not available in the United States is procured globally and this adds to the cost of the contract. Then on top of that we pay bonuses for successful completion of  contracts and in some cases the unsuccessful completion of a contract. Cost overruns are a commonplace occurrence with defense contractors and it is the American taxpayer who foots the bill. Recently Boeing Corp. completed a contract aircraft tankers of which they were awarded a contract with plenty of profit built in, and then they were awarded a 300000 bonus in effect wiping out any corporate tax they would had to pay on that particular contract.

      Now you as a taxpayer currently pay an average of 31 percent of your paycheck to the federal government and if you make over the average income of 53000 dollars per year, your ability to reduce your tax burden is negligible in comparison to our corporate tax cheaters like General Electric and others who have paid no corporate tax for the last 10 years, despite winning contract after contract off the American taxpayer. 

     General Electric( www.ctj.org/corporatetaxdodgers/CorporateTaxDodgersReport.pdf) is the number one tax cheater in the U.S. despite making billions in profit off of the money you pay into the government. Some of it has to do with investment in new machinery and that machinery didn’t yield jobs in the United States instead it was used to buy equipment to move jobs in some cases overseas, and then applied to the taxes owed as an expense of doing business, and subsequently deducted from the tax burden they owed. This along with stock options allowed a lot of companies the opportunity to have a zero tax burden.  So you are paying 31 per cent of your salary and these corporations are getting by with nothing.

        Doing away with the tax loopholes would substantially increase the tax revenue and reduce the national debt. And even if the stock options were the only thing that was eliminated it would still add 98 million dollars of revenue shared by 20 of the top executives in corporations in the United States to the federal budget alone. 98 million dollars is the number that corporations reduced their tax bill with that paid as executive pay alone. Reducing this option won’t stop executive pay  but will leave them scrambling to find another way to rape the American taxpayer and artificially manage their stock prices to avoid a more realistic picture of what the stock of their company is really worth , and just how good a job these executives actually did and if their pay was justified . This will also close the inequality between executive pay and the regular worker.  Why executives should be paid to buy back stock and manipulate their company’s worth at taxpayer expense is a question we should all ask our congressmen.

      Course then again it is you the tax payer who needs to get out and vote and send these elected officials in Washington the message we are tired of being screwed while congress hands corporations billions in taxpayer subsidies while being fairly consistent about keeping the taxpayer rate 31 percent for the average taxpayer . This figure is from information provided by  The Tax Foundation Org.( The Average U.S. Worker Pays over $16,000 in Income and Payroll Taxes | Tax 0Foundation)includes your cost for healthcare and for social security deductions leaving you a take home pay 34, 000 for 50 000 average income or 16000 total deductions with 8000 in personal  taxes and 8000 in deductions for Social Security and others  on a yearly basis.

     At the same time the average of all the top 205 businesses was an average 18.5 percent on all profits, with some paying little or no taxes. American Electric Power just recently applied for a rate increase despite having a 1.2 billion subsidy in tax relief on profits made. They want to increase their profits despite raping the American taxpayer. Most of the figures I have used is supported by data from an independent tax research firm and is based on 2010 figures as it takes a while for the figures of what a company actually owes in taxes to be computed and deductions realized . They say it may take up to five years to get an accurate view for the tax and income figures to reflect a true value of what a company actually owes. Still the tax option rule is still in effect and tax payers continue to indirectly pad the pockets of executives while artificially inflating stock prices.

      It is time to change the oligarchy that govern us as a small group that influences all our decisions on a national basis and in effect directs the legislation that affects us at tax payer expense. This country needs change and sometimes the only way to change its governing body is by taking out those who have been their longest. Congress refuses to set term limits on their members yet will replace the president on a two term basis. The longer a sitting member of congress is in office the more chance is that they will develop ties that influence their decisions on an indirect basis, and completely forgetting the electorate’s needs in favor of what their political ties want.

      We need to set our own term limits of two terms and out. Vote all incumbents out despite their political alliance. Respectively if you vote Democrats and Republicans out equally the parties and lobbyists will have to scramble to train new members of congress to their way of thinking. In the meantime we will have a congress that can take a fresh look at some issues that need to be changed.

      One of those is that the idea that businesses or political groups funneling millions to influence voters through Pacs are allowed to influence political elections through support of their elected official is in effect allowing graft and favoritism to become part of our national dialogue. This has to stop despite Supreme Court rulings allowing that in effect. After all corporations wouldn’t exist without some form of human intervention and why should we allow them to have a say in whom we elect. Lobbying needs to be restricted also, to return our elected representatives to the core reason of why they are there. That is to weigh the will of elected populace first and make decisions based on fact instead of influence of what the elected voters really want.