Charles Lewis

   

The Free Market and the Myth of Less Taxes for People:
Privatization has Increased the Tax Burden of People and Increased Corporate Cheating

   
Nipawin - Wednesday, February 6, 2002 - by: Mario deSantis
   

 

"In 1956, US corporate income taxes accounted for 28 percent of all federal tax revenue. Today that number is down to 10 percent"

--Charles Lewis, coauthor of The Cheating of America

 
 

economic
gospel

We have shown that the Free Market is a speculative economic gospel for the benefit of the big corporations and fortunate sons; in other words, the Free Market is the realization of the economic philosophy to make money with money through deregulation, privatization, and Free Trade.

 

 

government

Sometime ago we discovered one private branch of the Canadian Government with the reporting of the Human Resource Development Canada scandal, where billion of dollars of federal money were doled out to friends of friends for job creation. A few days ago, we learnt of another private branch of our government, Industry Canada. Walter Robinson, of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), reports in one article how billions of dollars were doled out by Industry Canada to big corporations such as IBM, Bombardier, Pratt & Whitney, and other household names. In particular, we learn that Industry Canada has collected a mere two per cent of over $1.6 billion it has lent in the last five years under the Technology Partnerships Canada program; however, the collection record becomes 15% for some $3.2 billion lent in prior years. With the consolidation of the Free Market the privatization efforts of Industry Canada must therefore be commended.

 

 

corporations
pay
little or
no taxes

The big corporations and fortunate sons have a better life in the United States as they can pursue their American Dream by cheating. The new book The Cheating of America is an investigative project conducted by Charles Lewis, Bill Allison and the Center for Public Integrity. We know that Enron Corp. didn't pay income taxes in four of the last five years, and this is not an isolated case. Corporations have become more important than people, they have taken over governments and therefore democracy and they are now cheating the American people with the complicity of the government. Here are some statements related to the book and extracted from the article Equal Under The Law? by Charles Lewis:

 

 

from 28%
to
< 10%

  • The IRS estimates the cost of tax avoidance and evasion is $195 billion a year, or more than $1,600 per taxpayer.

  • In 1995, for the nation's largest corporations with assets of $250 million or more, 1,279 out of 7,537, or 17%, reported no net income to the IRS and therefore paid no income taxes.

  • taxes paid by corporations on profits reported to the IRS dropped from 26% to 20% between 1990 and 1997. By comparison, in 1997, 15% of Americans' income went to the IRS, an increase from 13% in 1990. In other words, the federal tax burden resides more and more with individual citizens.

  • In general, the corporate share of taxes to this country has been declining for decades. In 1956, corporate income taxes accounted for 28% of all federal tax revenue. Today that number is down to 10%.
   
-----------------References:
  Lies My Government Continues to Tell Me: New Corporate Welfare Info Validates Successive CTF Reports Denouncing Handouts, Walter Robinson, CTF, January 29, 2002
   
  Equal Under The Law? What About Enforcement? Charles Lewis, TomPaine.com