Buttons

In recent weeks the press has carried news about major U.S. corporations which, by means of various loopholes in the tax code, manage to pay little or no corporate income tax in the United States.  GE is the poster child for tax avoidance; I'm told that their tax department is the envy of corporate America.  But others among the Forbes 500 do as well.  In 2009 ExxonMobil paid not a red cent to the Treasury, and on top of that got a more than $150 million rebate.  Many people think there is merit in reducing the current corporate tax rate (35%), although the effective rate, paid by most corporations, is about 25%.  But if your actual tax rate is zero, what does tax reform mean?  Bigger Easter Egg Baskets from Treasury?  Meanwhile, hardworking middle class Americans write their April 15 checks and consider paying their fair share to be a patriotic duty.

GE and ExxonMobil aren't doing anything illegal.  The law allows them to be deadbeats.  The law allows them to hoard trillions in profits in offshore accounts until Congress can be coaxed into declaring a tax holiday (an effort currently underway).  And we're told that the U.S. does not have a revenue problem!  If that's so, why doesn't the law allow small businesses — the local dry cleaner or druggist — to zero out their tax obligations?  If it's good for GE, why not for everyone else?  Let the individual taxpayer make up the difference.

To express myself on this issue, and to do a little education, I had these buttons made up.  The idea isn't mine.  A few weeks ago I saw a sign with a similar message carried by a woman in California who was protesting Bank of America's failure to pay U.S. corporate income tax.  Yes, the major banks are among the deadbeats.  Want a few?  Let me know.  I have 500 to give away!  For more information, check out the USUncut web site: www.usuncut.org/about

By the way, these buttons are well-traveled.  The button company in Indiana shipped them on March 25 to my apartment in Grand Haven.  For some reason they went to Winona, MN, then to Eagan, MN, then to Hodgkins, IL, then to Muskegon for delivery in Grand Haven.  The package arrived a day after I moved out of the apartment.  The apartment manager requested delivery to Presque Isle, but the buttons decided to go back to Hodgkins, IL, then to Minneapolis, Eagan, Minona, and Dakota, MN.  Then they went back to the button company.  The button company's second try worked: they were shipped Monday and arrived yesterday.  The package spent a full month in the UPS system!  Whew! •••