CORPORATE GIVEAWAYS:
Repeata, otra vez, por favor.
The federal government spends 100s of billions per year on corporate tax breaks and handouts – at an estimated average of $3000 per taxpayer (not including subsidies from counties and cities, hazardous waste cleanup costs, or limits on corporate liability). By contrast, 47.7 million Americans were receiving on average $268.58 per month in food assistance, or $12.8 billion total. [Actual figures may be higher — this doubles 2012 base].
Not many politicians talk about this. Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich said in 1995 that people are mad because “we are on the way to becoming a two-tiered society composed of a few winners and a larger group left behind. Since we are committed to moving the disadvantaged from welfare to work, why not target corporate welfare as well?”
The White House quickly distanced itself from Reich’s speech, but activists of all kinds picked it up: Perot’s United We Stand-America made it a major target of angry-middle groups; the right-wing Heritage Foundation and libertarian Cato Institute joined Ralph Nader to present a list of corporate pork barrel reforms. Yet, neither Congress nor the White House makes much of corporate giveaways in budget-balancing plans.
What are the giveaways? The active variety includes: agribusiness, military contractor subsidies, loan guarantees, bailouts, such as, the S&Ls, and computer databases. The rights to lumber and minerals on federal lands are routinely granted for $5 per acre, making the United States the only country in the world that virtually gives away its depletable natural resources. Drugs developed with taxpayer money are routinely given to drug companies for monopoly marketing with no restraint on price, or royalties returned to the people. The major television networks get free broadcast licenses with minimal public responsibility or obligation.
Passive corporate giveaways come in the form of tax breaks and loopholes. Private individuals pay taxes at higher rates than corporations. The investment tax credit designed to increase economic activity is historically taken as a windfall. Tax breaks granted to be put back into productive equipment, plants and jobs, are commonly used to buy out other companies, creating no new jobs or wealth. Subsidies actually debilitate innovation and efficiency.
In the debate over budget deficits, many ask, “How can we take food out of poor kids’ mouths and continue to subsidize the rich?” Scant legislation has been introduced to rid us of tax loopholes for the rich. There’s been no serious move to initiate cost-benefit analysis of corporate giveaways, in the same way they’ve meticulously reviewed health and safety regulation for years, and assaulted affirmative action and the minimum wage.
One problem is that connections are frequently not made between things that people don’t like and what causes them. Well-funded corporate lobbies and toadies are too adept at directing people’s anger against government in a massive, daily, Rush Limbaugh hate-your-government drumbeat. They work to keep focus away from corporations, which are the dominant institution in our society.
Government has been only a minion, a simply willing agent, for transferring tax dollars to corporate coffers. We are the richest nation in the history of the world and our richest (corporate) citizens behave as if divine providence, rather than selfish market decisions doom the poorest (human) citizens. However, if the corporate greed issue is connected with people’s deprivation – and we brand-name the greediest corporate kings in the United States – we can turn the tide against the self-interested, compassionless and undemocratic aspects of the corporate institution. Corporations should pay their fair share to the citizens and communities, which enable their success. That can result in real tax reform, without creating unnecessary hardships for the poor and middle class.
GET CORPORATIONS OUT OF GOVERNMENT: www.movetoamend.org
Progressive ACTION: www.moveon.org