Let’s be fair

There’s a new definition of fair in the air.  The best example is the Fox News positioning of “it’s only fair to spread the tax load evenly across all Americans”.  Their reasoning: “over 50 percent of American’s don’t pay income tax.”  True, so far.  Let’s see.  These fifty percent own 2.5 percent of America’s wealth.  So Let’s tax their wealth too.  That sure seems fair to me.  After all, 2.5 percent of our total wealth amounts to $1.4 trillion.  A 10 percent tax could go a long way toward equalizing the load.  But in order to be fair to everyone, we should tax corporations 10 percent too. They already pay too much, you say?  These excerpts from a posting on the website: DIGG by TCBishop:

Caution: Reading this might result in increased blood pressure and vertigo.  

·       Exxon Mobil – Profits: $19 billion. Taxes: 0.  Tax rebate: $156 million.

·       Bank of America – Profits: $4.4 billion.  Taxes: 0.  Tax rebate: $1.9 billion.  Federal Reserve and Treasury Department bailout: Nearly $1 trillion.

·       Boeing – Tax rebate: $124 million.

·       Valero Energy – Tax rebate:  $157 million.  Three year oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction: $134 million.

·       Goldman Sachs: Profits: $2.3 billion.  Taxes: 1.1 percent.   Bailout: $800 billion.

·       Citigroup – Profits: $4 billion.  Taxes: 0. Bailout: $2.5 trillion.

·       General Electric – Past five years profits: $26 billion (in the United States)., Tax rebate: $4.1 billion.

·       Chevron – Profits: $10 billion.  Tax rebate: $19 million.

·       ConocoPhillips – Profits from 2006 through 2009: $16 billion.  Oil and gas manufacturing deduction $451 million.

·       Ford – Profits: $3 billion.  Tax rate: 2.3 percent.

·       Carnival Cruise Lines – Five years profit total:  $11 billion.  Tax rate: 1.1 percent.

How do they do this?  Read this from NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – “General Electric filed more than 7,000 income tax returns in hundreds of global jurisdictions last year, but when push came to shove, the company owed the U.S. government a whopping bill of $0.”  That’s zero percent tax on $10.8 billion in profits.  GE employs 975 people to scour the tax code to avoid paying taxes.  Oh and who did President Obama  appoint to be the head of an economic advisory panel?  Jeffery Immelt, the head of GE.

Here’s another one by Stephen Leahy:  “With four times as many oil rigs pumping domestic oil today than eight years ago and declining domestic demand, the United States is awash in oil. In fact, the U.S. exports more oil than it imports, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration - and has done so for nearly two decades.  The country's oil industry is primarily interested in who will pay the most on the global marketplace.  How does this affect us?  We’re paying close to $4 a gallon based on the international price of crude even though we’re awash in oil.  Oh and don’t forget that we also subsidize the oil industry with our tax money.  How much?  $21 billion for oil and another $60 billion for ethanol.  That seems fair. 

“We get to choose the rhetoric and manner in which we are deceived and disempowered. Nothing more.”—- a profound observation by Chris Hedges!  In other words, Democrat or Republican, you choose.  Neither party will do anything that upsets the Moneyed Interests in this country!  The final nail in our coffin was the Supreme Court’s “Citizen’s United” ruling that determined that corporations are people and consequently have the same rights of free speech that we have. 

They can spend as much as they want to support a political agenda without being revealed as a contributor.  Let’s see, that seems fair.  I can give as much as I want without revealing my identity.   Based on my means, I can afford an occasional $250.  They can give millions.  That seems fair to me.  Oops!  My blood pressure is rising and I’m feeling dizzy.

Robert DeFilippis