This is a short rant, but it would have made an awesome special comment:
In fact, I think this could have been a segment of its own outside of simply putting it in "Still Bushed"
Transcript over the jump
And number one, tea bag-gate. As handfuls of sheep possibly wearing Eli D vests, as seen earlier in Oddball, are herded into made for TV protests of taxation with representation, the US Public Interest Research Group has now analyzed a Senate report from last year that showed just how much we lose as a nation in tax revenues hidden by corporations in places like the Cayman Islands. The opportunities to do so growing immeasurably under the Bush administration.
The total figure is up to 800 billion dollars a year. But U.S. has now figured it out state by state. Texas would be losing eight billion a year, eight billion its ordinary citizens have to pay in taxes. So is New York State at that amount. Residents of California have to make up 11 billion lost to tax dodge island. The District of Columbia, 713 million. Even Alaska -- Alaska, 174 million that Alaskans have to pay because Alaskan corporations do not.
So where are your tea bag protests about that? Where is the Fox out of business network on this corporate piracy? Where is Neil Cavuto explaining to the simpletons in Sacramento that they`re getting ripped off by international outfits like News Corp? Where is captain tea bag himself, Glenn Beck? Why don`t you take credit for this idea from someone else? Get up there and weep about U.S. corporations making us, all of us, rich and poor, pay 100 billion dollars of their taxes so we get the privilege of getting to buy their products and bail out their failures?
Get up there and do that, and I`ll march with you. Until then, you`re just a bunch of greedy, water carrying corporate slave hypocrites defending the rich against the poor.
Here's an article from the Huffington Post where you can find state by state breakdowns:
A Senate report estimated in 2008 that the United States loses up to $100 billion a year in tax revenue to offshore tax havens (PDF). In a report released Wednesday, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group offers a state-by-state breakdown of the cost to taxpayers of tax revenue lost to "shell companies and sham headquarters" in places like Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.
Those numbers are RIDICULOUS!
I'm with Keith on this one, if they want to have tea parties for THIS crap, I'm sure they'd get MUCH larger numbers (even though FAUX probably won't pimp it as hard) and must more across the board support. That's money that should be going to the government that could probably ease the burden on taxpayers even MORE. Where's their outrage about that?
President Obama's Budget (yes, that evil evil booklet) addresses the issue of tax havens:
As part of the budget that he will introduce this Thursday, President Barack Obama will call for the closure of tax havens that allow companies to pay greatly reduced tax rates, an administration official tells the Huffington Post.
[snip]
By calling for the elimination of tax havens in his budget, Obama is following through on a promise he made repeatedly throughout the campaign and one he has discussed as president.
[snip]
In addition to taking action to close offshore havens, the Obama administration is also likely to take other aggressive tax enforcement measures, such as calling for an increase in the tax rates that hedge fund managers pay on their earnings. The ultimate goal is to increase tax collection revenues from roughly 16 percent of the economy to about 19 percent by 2013.
Business groups, while recognizing that some tax policy changes may be needed, have nevertheless expressed concern that the White House is essentially raising taxes in the midst of a recession. Asked whether closing the loopholes would harm the economy, DeLauro scoffed at likening the budget provisions to tax hikes.
"This isn't a tax increase," she replied. "They are hiding. They are not paying their fair share. They are hiding income so as not to have to pay tax dollars. It is fair to close this loophole. And it is right thing to do. It is tax evasion. What they are doing amounts to tax evasion."
And I say we need to get every last one of these tax evaders. If the President himself can pay almost a million dollars in taxes, these companies can surely start paying their fair shares.
Oh, and one more thing, largely the American people don't think they are being overtaxed according to a Gallup poll taken recently: