Our ballooning Republican-created economic deficit is soon to become the big conservative talking point on why we cannot robustly fund things like public education, affordable health care, and food assistance programs, amongst other social programs. It will be the most basic of Republican hypocrisies, as they themselves, in cutting away government revenues by reducing taxes for the wealthiest in our country, have created the deficit. In the face of this, outdoor retail company Patagonia has announced that it will buck the trend set by other big businesses. Instead of pocketing its benefits from the Republican tax scam, it will be putting that money to good use—for everybody. CEO Rose Marcario published this letter on her LinkedIn account.
We have always paid our fair share of federal and state taxes. Being a responsible company means paying your taxes in proportion to your success and supporting your state and federal governments, which in turn contribute to the health and well-being of civil society. Taxes fund our important public services, our first responders and our democratic institutions. Taxes protect the most vulnerable in our society, our public lands and other life-giving resources. In spite of this, the Trump administration initiated a corporate tax cut, threatening these services at the expense of our planet.
We recognize that our planet is in peril. We are committing all $10 million to groups committed to protecting air, land and water and finding solutions to the climate crisis. We have always funded grassroots activism, and this $10 million will be on top of our ongoing 1% for the Planet giving. It will go a long way toward funding grassroots groups; including those dedicated to regenerative organic agriculture, which may be our greatest hope for reversing the damage done to our overheated planet.
The clear money grab by the Republican Party, for both its donors and big business, is nowhere more transparent than in the corporate sector. Although it promoted the corporate tax breaks as a big chance for big businesses to bigger themselves and, in turn, bigger the jobs and infrastructure of our country, none of that has happened. In fact, corporation after corporation after corporation has made it clear that they aren’t going to do anything with their extra “profits,” other than pocket that money, by way of stock buybacks and bigger bonuses for existing C-suite suits.
It’s nice to see at least one company that realizes it doesn’t need to buy its executives another yacht at the expense of our humanity.