I’M SORRY, I HAVE TO LAUGH!

(Reuters, Doug Farrar, Bloomberg Business Week, Washington Times)

(Heritage Foundation, Digital Media, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Pardon me, I realize that this is a serious subject, hundreds of thousands of jobs depend on it, services in a wide-ranging area of our country wouldn’t be able to operate without these daily insignificant duties that we pretty much all take for granted, but I’m having a really hard time suppressing a huge belly laugh!

 

What I’m about to relate to you is a most comical revelation, and really just one more example of what is going on in our beloved country. It’s as if the inmates were running the prison, there really isn’t much of another way to explain it. If people, just your average walking down the street Joes really, really knew what in hell was going on, they’d be up in arms…..just like me.

 

Is there anything that can be done to rectify an obvious transgression against the American public, a transgression that is stupid, uses all sorts of gimmicks to game the process, and although legal, the practice is still highly unethical. It’s kind of like a team of 6’8” basketball players playing the school for the blind…..and keeping score, and counting it as a win.

 

Of course this is American, land of the free, home of the brave, a world leader, and a shining example of everything that is good and righteous. We protect the downtrodden, attempt at every turn to involve ourselves with third world emergence and introduce them to capitalism with a capital C.

 

We have wonderful technology in medication, military hardware, and a seeming endless amount of foreign aid to spend whenever Washington, and the president see fit. Foreign policy is the president’s (bailiwick), it say’s so in the U.S. Constitution right under the job description for the president.

 

THIS IS HOW WE ROLL

Tax exemption is a really nice thing to have, especially when you make a gross of more than $10 billion a year, and your fiscal year is little more than six months long. Oh sure, watching those hulking fellows chase other hulking fellows around a chalk lined field who are carrying an inflated pig bladder might seem like fun and games, but really it’s work. If you don’t believe me, ask one of those hulking fellows the next time you stop by the practice field to watch the goings on, I’m sure you’ll get an ear-full.

 

It never ceases to amaze me how greedy business people really, really are, if there was ever any doubt as to why these people are in business, check out the National Football League, the National Hockey League, or the Professional Golfers Association, believe it or not they each have something in common, and it’s not their muscles upon muscles…..each league has a tax exempt status.

 

The National Football League rakes in about $10 billion a year, that’s about 10,000 million bucks, wow, and there a…..are you ready for this, a non-profit outfit, technically the N.F.L. is a 501(c) (6) that’s right, hard to believe, but factual. The 501(c) (6) is an Internal Revenue Code reserved for exemption for business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards, boards of trade and…..professional football leagues, which are not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.

 

The same kind of taxation practice, or the lack thereof is enjoyed by the National Hockey League, and the Professional Golfers Association, neither was organized to make profits, therefore they don’t have to pay taxes, what a scam…..wish I’d thought of it, I’m sure I wouldn’t be writing blogs, sounding like some old impotent bastard.

Now we come to the real crux of the problem and the reason for this blog, what person, or group of people made the colossal judgment that a professional sports league or professional anything wasn’t organized as a way to make money…..boat-loads of money?

 

Guess the founders of professional sports leagues, (back in the day) understood that eventually players in these professional leagues would be making all sorts of money, and…..their salaries would fall under a taxable situation, therefore owners could be exempt from being placed on the local, state and federal tax rolls…..IT’S HOW THEY ROLL!

 

NOW BEFORE YOU GO AND GET ALL TEARY EYED

Let’s examine for a minute some of the companys, what their services are or their products, I have to admit it does make for some interesting reading; I’ve attempted to break this information down so that each of us can understand:

 

Corporation vs. LLC, who benefits, multinationals with operations in high-tax foreign countries, American companies are taxed in the country in which income is generated, and the U.S. gives a tax credit for the amount in order to avoid double taxation, the average cost to the U.S. tax payer, about $3.3 billion in lost tax income.

 

Graduated Corporate Income, who benefits, individuals that own small corporations, their tax rate on the first $50,000 is 15%, with higher profit levels garnering higher tax rates until it tops out at 35% for taxable corporate income exceeding $335,000, the logic being that the small business will reinvest in his company. The average lost taxes in a year, $3.3 billion.

 

Research and Experimentation Tax Credit, who benefits, pharmaceutical companies, high-tech companies, engineers, agriculture conglomerate, these peoples shenanigans cost us around $6 billion a year.

 

Deferred Taxes for Financial Firms on Certain income Earned Overseas, who benefits, and financial firm with foreign operations, cost to U.S. tax collectors, around $6 billion per year.

 

Alcohol Fuel Credit, who benefits, Midwest food and agricultural conglomerates to the tune of more than $6.2 billion a year.

 

Credit for low-income housing developments, who benefits, real estate developers, those companies who develop low-income housing, almost $7 billion dollars a year.

 

Accelerated Depreciation of Machinery and Equipment, who benefits, companies that use large equipment that lasts for year, example, mining equipment, cost to taxpayers, $10 billion a year.

 

Deduction for Domestic Manufacturing, who benefits, any U.S. company that produces a product within the continuality United States, cost to taxpayer, a little over $11 billion annually.

 

Deferral of Income from Controlled Foreign Corporations, who benefits, each and every multinational company, annual loss in tax revenue, close to $33 billion.

 

 

 

 

It doesn’t take a person armed with a calculator long to crunch the numbers and come up with a lost tax revenue figure of $85.8 billion dollars each and every year from these fat cats, as they like to be addressed, (Captains of Industry).

 

Here’s a list of the (rogue) companies that pay next to nothing for doing business with their home base right here in the good old U.S. of A.

 

Rubber Parts Made in U.S.A. pre-tax income, $463 million, taxes paid, $21 million, tax rate 4.62%

Boeing Company, pre-tax income, $17,587, taxes paid, $796 million, tax rate, 4.46%

Amazon.com, pre-tax income, $3,512 million, taxes paid, $152 million, tax rate 4.33%

Broadcom Corp, pre-tax income, $1,228 million, taxes paid, $41 million, tax rate 3.32%

Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. pre-tax income, $1,116, taxes paid, $34 million, tax rate, 3.05%

NRG Energy, Inc. pre-tax income, $5,343 million, taxes paid, $154 million, tax rate, 2.88%

TECO Energy, Inc. pre-tax income, $1,620 million, taxes paid, $37 million, tax rate, 2.31%

Allegheny Energy, Inc. pre-tax income, $2,538 million, taxes paid, $58 million, tax rate, 2.28%

NVIDA Corp. pre-tax income, $1,817 million, taxes paid, $41 million, tax rate, 2.24%

Xcel Energy, pre-tax income, $4,334 million, taxes paid, $77 million, tax rate, 1.78%

Next Era Energy, Inc. pre-tax income, $8,572 million, taxes paid, $149 million, tax rate, 1.74%

Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. pre-tax income, $1,355 million, taxes paid, $22 million, tax rate, 1.62%

Western Digital Corp. pre-tax income, $2,507 million, taxes paid, $40 million, tax rate, 1.60 %

HCP, Inc. pre-tax income, $614 million, taxes paid, $9 million, tax rate, 1.42%

Carnival Corp. pre-tax income, $11,250 million, taxes paid, $126 million, tax rate, 1.12%

Range Resource Corp. pre-tax income, $1.228 million, taxes paid, $7 million, tax rate, 0.53%

 

THIS IS NOT THE CAPITOL HILL TWO STEP

Lobbies, lobbyist, lobbied, lobbying, (hall, foyer, waiting room at or near main entrance), trying to influence legislators, public officials, attempting to swing an elected officials thinking, representing an interest who wants a desired decision, or opinion.

 

Whichever way you slice it…..most lobbyists are like ambulance chasers, they are looking to take advantage, and attempt to swing thinking towards a desired decision in the political arena. There is nothing new to this type of decision making, except that today, lobbying budgets have skyrocketed, and the amount of favors to political figures has risen expediently.

 

Today it’s Apple’s turn to be under the looking glass, and for everybody who cares to listen, to hear the outrages epithets of pious responses by the leader of the Apple Band of merry board members who might be called in the weeks ahead to address how Chief Executive Tim Cook can justify paying only a fraction of the corporate taxes that the company should ethically owe.

 

We need to clear several thing up right now…..corporate America is interested in one thing, it’s called the bottom line mentality, it isn’t a new concept, it’s been practiced here and in other countries for centuries, it’s just that here in the United States, corporate moguls seem to have improved at the practice in an almost perfect storm proficiency.

 

Corporate America does not reinvest excess profits; they do not create more jobs, and are in fact looking to reduce employees as much as is possible. It is one of conservative’s biggest myths, and biggest lies, that companies are interested in their employees.

 

 

I don’t feel anger for these conservatives that can’t see the trees for the forest, I’m really in wonderment, if taxes aren’t paid, and public services dry up. Most everybody knows that the thinking on Capitol Hill isn’t always the most concise, or crystal clear…..it’s one of the reasons why we vote so often.

 

For business people to continually take advantage of all the unscrupulous stupid tax loopholes that are available out there, it might, in the short run fatten their wallets, but in the long run will be disastrous to us all.

 

I’M NOT TRYING TO BEAT A DEAD HORSE

I don’t live in a bubble, I know the score, and I’ve been around the block…..several times, I in addition realize that business-men have costs, budgets, and operating expenses…..and that they need to make enough money so that they feel good about themselves. This feel-good attitude is an important denominator in how a business executive or owner feels views himself, not only in his mirror, but how he looks to the general public…..most executives do have a heart!

 

Once again, when you peel the skin off an onion, the situation becomes completely clear, easy to understand…..and we all know what needs to be done…..even the business exec. If we, as a nation fail to see the benefits of what I’m about to tell you…..well, guess I’ll see you on the other side!

 

If we set, as a moral compass for America’s corporations, a 25% tax rate, it would give a social responsibility to these moguls, would give them a surge of social responsibility, and they would freely pay their fair share…..are you out of your fricken mind?

 

No it will take a hell-of-alot more than a leap of faith from corporate America to dictate them paying the rightful amount of their tax burden. Corporate America drives a Cadillac, the rest of us drive Chevy Trail Blazers, and that’s just the way it is…..and it’s the way it should be.

 

If corporate America did pay…..oh let’s see, say .30%, across the board…..no loopholes, the United States would be 130^th out of the 179 countries that reported corporate tax figures. From a high of 49.3% in Zimbabwe to a low of 1.4% in…..where else, United Arab Emirates.

 

Although it’s true that much of Corporate America is paying as little as the law allows, isn’t it time for everybody to come to terms with the services that we derive from our tax dollars. Don’t the fruits of manufacturers and factory products move over our roads, doesn’t our environment suffer and need to be repaid by what corporate America does…..don’t we all benefit from the tax dollars that we all pay into the country’s piggy bank?

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!