This Diary might just piss you off ....
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author wrote a brilliant, and maddening, article for Reuters describing the fact that many large Corporations, posting record profits have a "deal" with Governors and Legislatures in many States (mostly Red) where the Corporations get to POCKET Employee's State Taxes without the Employee's knowledge.
This new method of State Corporate Subsidy boils down to: Employee's are being Taxed by their Corporate Employer and not being Taxed by their State.
Also, the old Corporate Subsidy method, the Corporation would get a Finite Dollar Value of subsidy but as this new method allows Corporate Subsidies to be INFINITE while at the same time, State's are being depleted of MUCH NEEDED Revenue to fund Public Projects.
The way it's done: Corporations are withholding State Taxes from their Employee's wages but the Corporation is pocketing their employee's State Taxes and never, ever sending the Employee's State Taxes in to their State's Revenue Cabinet.
So, at the end of the year, the Employee gets their W-2 and it shows State Taxes were withheld ... but unbeknownst to the Employee, those State Taxes were NEVER sent to their State's Revenue Cabinet as their Corporate Employer pocketed the money.
In short, while State's are cutting and gutting: education, infrastructure spending, cops, firemen, etc., Governors and Legislatures are allowing large Corporations to "steal" employee's State Withholding Tax.
That means, Employee Taxes, that are supposed to be used to Fund Public Projects have been DIVERTED to Private Corporations for Private Gain without the employee's knowledge.
Those States are:
-Ohio (GOP House Majority John Boehner's State & Gov Kasich-R)
-Kentucky (GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's State)
-New Jersey (Gov Christie-R)
-Indiana (Gov Mitch Daniels-R)
-Kansas (Gov Brownback-R)
-South Carolina (Gov Nikki Haley-R)
-Georgia (Gov Nathan Deal-R)
-Mississippi (Gov Bryant -R)
-Maine (Gov Paul LePage-R)
-New Mexico (Gov Susana Martinez -R)
-Utah (Gov Gary Herbert-R)
-Illinois (Gov Pat Quinn-D)
-North Carolina (Gov Bev Perdue-D)
-Colorado (Gov. John Hickenlooper-D)
-Missouri (Gov Jay Nixon-D)
-Connecticut (Gov Malloy-D)
Notice Speaker John Boehner, Sen Mitch McConnell, and many of the Governors listed are the loudest to B!TCH about the evils of welfare! This IS Corporate Welfare and Corporate THEFT of Employee's Money.
Mitch McConnell and John Boehner are very powerful men in their states who are very aware of their State's Revenues and even though they do not write their State's Laws, they are very aware their State's Laws that govern Corporate Welfare. Thus, if they did not want their state's to let Corporations pocket American Worker's State Taxes, then those states would not. Therefore, one can reasonably conclude: both Mitch McConnell and John Boehner support their states letting Corporations pocket their employee's money without the employee's knowledge.
Here is a list of some of the Large Corporations that are allowed to keep their employee's State Taxes without the employee's knowledge are:
Goldman Sachs
Fidelity Global Brokerage
Lord Abbett & Co
ICAP North America
Marathon Petroleum
Nisson
Toyota
Ford Motor/Suppliers
Sears
GE
Google (Motorola mobility)
NCR
Procter & Gamble
American Greeting
Bath Iron Works
General Motors
Sanofi-Aventis US
AMC Entertainment
IM Flash Technologies
Verizon
Adobe
While loyal, neighborhood mom & pop shops struggle to pay Employee Taxes quarterly, State Governors and Legislators have a quiet "deal" that allows Large, profitable Corporations to steal their employee's money for Private Profit.
Historically, Employers who Withhold Employee's State Taxes are required, by law, to pay the State Revenue Department those Withheld monies. Employers who withheld but did not send the Employee's withheld money to the State Revenue could be charged with a Felony (Theft).
Why not sending in employee's withheld State Taxes is a Felony:
1) John Doe owe's $20,000.00 in yearly State Taxes based off of wages.
2) Rather than John Doe writing a $20,000.00 check to the State, the Employer takes out Mr. Doe's $20,000.00 Tax Liability in increments weekly, monthly or bi-monthly.
3) The Employer then sends Mr. Doe's $20,000.00 to the State Revenue.
4) The State Revenue Cabinet puts Mr. Doe's $20,000.00 into Mr. Doe's Tax Liability Account.
5) At the end of the year, Mr. Doe fills out his Federal and State Tax Forms and submits his w-2 showing $20,000.00 was taken out of Mr. Doe's wages.
keywords: Mr. Doe's wages.
Because the $20,000.00 belongs TO Mr. Doe - when his employer keeps the $20,000.00 and never sends it to the State Revenue Cabinet ... the employer is guilty of STEALING $20,000.00 from Mr. Doe. That is why it is a Felony if an employer does not send Mr. Doe's $20,000.00 into the State Revenue to be put in Mr. Doe's Tax Liability Account.
Could Mr. Doe be guilty of DeFrauding the IRS without even knowing it?
What happens if Mr. Doe is audited by the State or by the IRS? Employees deduct State Taxes from "income" for Federal Tax filing. Thus, if the monies are not ever going into the State Revenue then the monies are NOT, in fact, Taxes. Therefore, Mr. Doe could be DeFrauding the IRS without even knowing it.
Is Mr. Doe's State Unemployment Account EMPTY without even knowing it?
So, what happens if Mr. Doe gets laid-off and tries to file for unemployment? Since Mr. Doe's Corporate Employer KEPT Mr. Doe's State Taxes, there is no money in Mr. Doe's State Revenue Account to pay him his State Unemployment.
From Mr. Johnston's Article:
AMC Entertainmentannounced a deal last year to move its corporate headquarters from Kansas City, Mo., to a nearby Kansas suburb. In return, Kansas will let the multiplex chain keep $47 million of state income taxes withheld from its workers’ paychecks, a drain on public finances that did not create any jobs, but does enrich the Wall Street firms that own AMC including arms of J. P. Morgan, Apollo Management, Bain Capital and the Carlyle Group. AMC declined to answer my questions.
I wonder how much Mitt Romney is Personally Profiting by his holdings in Bain Capital from this disgusting act of stealing Employee's State Tax money.
9:54 AM PT: To Avoid Confusion that at least one poster has: Corporations KEEPING Employee's State Taxes means, the employees of the Corporation are the ONLY ONES paying that Corporation's Subsidy.
Contrary to the OLD method - where State Corporate Subsidies were a "Finite" number and were funded by all working citizens of a State ... this new method makes it so that the Corporations Employee's Taxes are the ONLY Taxes paying for the Corp Subsidies and the Dollar Amount of the Corporation's Subsidy is "INFINITE."
In other words, unlike past State Corp Subsidies - these type of Subsidies boil down to the Employee Being Taxed BY Their Corp Employer, not their State. Anyone having additional confusion should click on Johnston's link which I provided at the top of this Diary.
10:33 AM PT: Because of confusion by some posters here, I called the Ohio Revenue Cabinet (as that is John Boehner's State) Here is a summary of my conversation:
I asked, IF my employer withholds State Taxes from my wages but does not send that money into the State, have I met my State Tax Obligation.
The answer was, No, you would not have met your Tax Obligation because the Account with my name next to it will show: Monies from Taxes owed off of wages earned have not been put into the Account bearing my name.
Then the person said, "it is a Felony for an employer to withhold taxes and not send those Taxes in to the State.
My next question was: If the State offered the Corporate employer a $5000.00 Subsidy - Would it be ok for the Corporate employer to just keep $5000.00 from their employee's State Tax Withholding.
The answer was: No, Accounts for Subsidies are in a different "pot" than Accounts for State Employee Taxes. Subsidy Accounts start at the beginning of the Fiscal Year - not at the end. While State Employee Tax Accounts begin at the END of the year.
The Ohio Revenue Person also said: The Employee Tax Withholding Account and the Subsidy Accounts never crossover.
The phone number of the Ohio Revenue Cabinet is:
(800) 757-6091 extension: 6