They are using all kinds of methods to make up for the loss in revenues caused by the tax breaks for the rich and the corporations.
Not surprising since the Republicans started to cut taxes for the very rich and the corporations way back when Reagan was President and have carried it through all these years making the matter worse and worse. It all culminated in massive tax cuts for the rich when George w. Bush, the genius that he was, decided that the government had far too much revenue and taxes had to be cut for the rich and the corporations under the assumption that “TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS” is a valid theory.
The result of such a policy on economics was a blunder of enormous proportions, a major fuck up to impact the economy and along with it the 98% of Americans who are not in the top of the food chain.
It's very frustrating for ordinary citizens to go about their day and encounter the lack of concern and the downright repression and milking of the poor and the middle class in their hands. One such incident happened when my youngest was in elementary school. I went to pick her up from school and I was teaching at the University at the time a class that started at 6 pm. I opened the front gate and the door to the house, kissed her and let her in. Unbeknown to me there were two burglars inside the house. My daughter hid behind a guitar and a plant and they didn’t see her or they probably would have killed her. I got out of the development where I lived and on the corner of Miami Gardens Drive and 87th Ave there were no less than six squad cars ticketing motorists who just got off I75. You would think that they could have had four squad cars ticketing and two patrolling the neighborhood…Is that unrealistic to ask?
I have always been a law abiding citizen, never delved in drugs or did anything illegal. But I have had over the years numerous run-ins with law authorities. These have been mostly confined to traffic fines and the like; although I have been driving for 45 years, never had an accident and had only one ticket that as I will explain below was undeserved.
Driving North on the Palmetto Expressway around midnight in the car that I inherited from my father, a 1997 Cougar with blisters on both front tires I could not go over 50 mph or the vibration was unbearable. I was on the extreme right lane and I see a squad car passing me on the left at 100 mph. without flashing lights or a siren. I was startled but continued my slow pace. Then I looked in the rear view mirror and I see flashing lights coming from a squad car instructing me to pull over.
Enter this very butch woman patrol and she was downright rude. She said: “I clocked you at 96 mph, let me see your license and your registration” I tried to explain that the car could not travel above 50 mph but not only would she not listen but she became downright indignant. “You can fight it in court” was what she said. I did and she didn’t show up or the fine would have been $256.00 and point on my license.
I found out later that there were several people a friend of mine knew, including himself who had the same similar fine slapped on them under the same situation. It seems that the Florida Highway Patrol sends that squad car to travel up and down 826 and there are who know how many officers ticketing people under the same scam. You figure that they can trap fifty people in one shift period and out of those 90% or more will pay the fine. Most people can’t take off from work and go through the inconvenience of going to court. It is a nice racket, don’t you think?
Then there was another incident a couple of months ago when I went to take my computer to my computer geek friend in the City of North Miami. In Florida it is legal to turn right on a red light after you make a stop if there is no traffic coming. I stopped at the traffic light on US1 and 125th St. looked and there was no traffic so I proceeded to turn right. There was a camera mounted on the traffic light and two weeks later I get a ticket in the mail from NMB and I had no choice but to pay it because you can’t challenge the evidence in film…no way I can prove I did stop and no way they would admit otherwise..
Same week, sitting outside of Java Boys drinking my coffee I watched as the City of Wilton Manor’s police pulled over drivers, one after another and in the short time I was there I counted a dozen. It is a 30 mph zone but you enter it from a 40 mph zone and most people are not quick enough to respond to the diminished speed limit. Nice revenue for the City of Wilton Manors.
But I think the one that wins the prize for racism, insensitivity and abuse was my very first experience with Los Angeles Police. I had gotten off work and waiting for the bus sitting on a bench across my job on Sunset Blvd and Fairfax. A squad car came screeching to a stop in front of me, two cops got out, they knocked me to the ground, one of them put his foot on my neck and I was eating the dirt. The other one says: “What are you doing in this part of town at this time of night, don’t you know your kind is not supposed to be here? Even after I explained I had just got off my job and was waiting for the bus to return to my East LA ghetto, the cop said: “yeah, but I saw you spitting on the ground”
Why am I saying all this? It is precisely because the law enforcement authorities and municipal, state and Federal governments are not really concerned with the safety of the citizenry. They function as a means of repression, tax collectors, Robin Hoods in reverse and all because Republicans have succeeded in lowering taxes for the wealthy and the corporations so that revenues are significantly less than the expenditures of cities, states and the nation.
How do Republicans intend to deal with budgets and the deficit? Well, surprise, surprise, they want to give even more tax cuts for the rich and stick the already beleaguered middle class and poor with the difference plus the balancing of their budgets. The Republicans are out of control going after the middle class, decimating Labor Unions and increasing fines and fees, traffic violation fees and the like. It is a direct assault on the middle class and the poor.
According to The New York Times, last year General Electric (GE) made over $14.2 billion in profit, but paid NO federal tax.1 None.
In fact, thanks to the millions GE spent lobbying Congress, we American taxpayers actually owed GE $3.2 billion in tax credits.2
We have seen how splendidly well the stock market is doing. Corporations have record profits like never before while the incomes of most Americans have shrunk and their taxes and unjust fines are levied on them. Exxon, Walmart and many others are raking in the profits. Outrageous you might say but take a look at GE; a company that does not pay taxes and even gets us to pay them 4.1 billion in tax credits.
Tell General Electric to pay their taxes
If you want to know why we're facing vicious budget cuts across the country, look no further than General Electric, America's largest corporation.
According to a shocking exposé just published by the the New York Times, GE made over $26 billion in profit in the United States during the last five years, but paid nothing in federal income tax. Zero. In fact, it claimed a $4.1 billion net tax benefit from the IRS during that time.1
Meanwhile, lack of revenue is causing brutal cutbacks of vital services at all levels of government.
We shouldn't be firing teachers and taking health care away from children because GE is shirking on its responsibility to pay income tax.
Tell GE: Pay your taxes.
GE is the poster child for what's wrong with our corporate tax system. GE's tax schemes alone have cost American taxpayers billions of dollars.
In fact, it was GE's tax avoidance in the 1980's that prompted Ronald Reagan of all people to push to eliminate loopholes in the corporate tax code.
Of course the company line is that they're just following the law. But we cannot treat them as mere bystanders.
As the Times article reported, General Electric has 975 employees in its tax department who are charged with spending half their time complying with the law and half their time "looking to exploit opportunities to reduce tax."
And they are not only eager to exploit the loopholes that exist in the tax law (loopholes that might never have been contemplated by the lawmakers who created them), they also spend tens of millions of dollars a year to lobby Congress for more corporate welfare and more tax exemptions.
The end result is a corporate giant like GE extracting obscene profits from our country, while sticking the rest of us with the bill.
Tell GE: Pay your taxes.
Note:
1"G.E.'s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether," David Kocieniewski, New York Times, March 24, 2011.
Subject: Tell General Electric: Pay your taxes.
Dear Friend,
It's outrageous.
According to a shocking expose just published by the the New York Times, GE made over $26 billion in profit in the United States during the last five years, but paid nothing in federal income tax. Zero. In fact, it claimed a $4.1 billion net tax benefit from the IRS during that time.
Meanwhile, lack of revenue is causing brutal cutbacks of vital services at all levels of government.
We shouldn't be firing teachers and taking health care away from children because GE is shirking on its responsibility to pay income tax.
I just signed a petition to the Chair and CEO of GE telling him that GE should pay its taxes. I hope you join me by taking action at the link below.
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/ge_taxes/?r_by=18615-3546916-Ubb0J4x&rc=confemail
http://www.highwayrobbery.net/
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/01/09/hollywood-ticketing-drivers-caught-on-camera/
