How Tea Partiers in Congress Are Doing Their Corporate Masters' Bidding | | AlterNet
Friday, April 29, 2011
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Saturday, April 16, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Memphis Coffee Party Progressives Joins US Uncut's Movement to Make Corporate Tax Dodgers Pay UPp
Memphis Coffee Party Progressives Joins US Uncut's Growing Movement to Make Corporate Tax Dodgers Pay Up
A group of concerned citizens from Memphis are joining US Uncut groups in more than 50 U.S. cities, with a planned protest at the corner of Poplar and Highland on Saturday (April 16th), to make the connection between corporate tax dodging and the budget cuts in Tennessee.
Activists from Memphis Coffee Party Progressives and Memphis Uncut will confront corporations like FedEx, GE, Exxon & Bank of America over their failure to pay their fair share while citizens of Tennessee suffer huge budget cuts at both the federal and state levels. Inspired by national and international protests to hold corporate tax cheats accountable, the protest will creatively call out these corporations for contributing to budget cuts.
Corporate tax cheats are bankrupting America. Many of America’s largest corporations are making profits in America but barely paying taxes – if at all – due to overseas tax haven abuse and other tax loopholes. Memphis Uncut is a group of citizens who pay their fair share, organized to show corporate tax cheats that there will be consequences for their actions.
KEY FACTS:
• Offshore tax havens cost U.S. taxpayers $100 billion per year. That shortfall costs the average taxpayer $500 a year. (U.S. Senate subcommittee on investigations)
• Two-thirds of US corporations paid no federal income taxes at some point between 1998 to 2005. (Government Accountability Office)
• States collectively face another $100 billion budget gap for FY 2012. Over the next decade, President Obama has proposed nearly $1 trillion in social program cuts; House Republicans recently unveiled a plan to slash $4 trillion, with cuts largely to social safety nets such as Medicare and education. [Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, New York Times]
WHAT: Memphis UNCUT/Tax Protest
WHEN: Saturday, April 16th, 11 AM
WHERE: Poplar & Highland
--
US UNCUT
http://www.USuncut.org
Coffee Party Progressives
http://www.coffeepartyprogressives.com
Monday, April 11, 2011
The Progressive Budget Plan: Tax the Rich, End the Wars, Invest in Jobs
House progressives offer budget plan: Tax the rich, end the wars, slash oil subsidies, invest in jobs
Liberal Dems claim the plan eliminates deficit by 2021
WASHINGTON – As the focus on Capitol Hill shifts [1] to America's long-run fiscal woes, Congressional progressives are one step ahead of the White House and Democratic leaders in offering a counter-proposal to the House GOP approach.
The broad sketch proposes to end the Bush-era tax cuts on high income earners, enact a surtax on millionaires and billionaires, increase the the estate tax and eliminate corporate tax loopholes and subsidies for oil and coal companies. It also aims to create a public health insurance option, end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and invest $1.45 trillion in "job creation," energy, housing and education programs.
The revenue-heavy proposal [2] (PDF) stands in stark contrast to the spending cuts-oriented plan put forth by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) -- and championed by GOP leaders [3] -- that slashes $6 trillion in federal programs (including Medicare and Medicaid) while significantly reducing taxes for wealthy Americans and corporations.
"This budget is transparent, straightforward and realistic about where we are in America right now," Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), co-chair of the progressive caucus, told Raw Story. "The Ryan plan, for all the credit it gets for thinking big, doesn’t reflect the reality of the American economy. It destroys the successful programs that made this country strong, especially Medicare and education, and doesn't even try to explain how it creates jobs. It reflects a faith that making government disappear will somehow create prosperity."
The plan is a nonstarter in the GOP-led House and would have a hard time winning over more than a handful of Democrats in the Senate. But Grijalva and his progressive caucus co-chair Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) wrote a letter urging Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), the top Democrat on the budget committee, to consider their ideas in the Democratic counter-offer this week.
In contrast to the Ryan plan, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says will eliminate the deficit by 2040 [4], the progressive proposal -- which its authors have dubbed the "People's Budget" -- promises to yield surpluses by 2021, though it doesn't provide numbers to back the claim.
"We need an alternative that actually creates jobs, closes corporate tax loopholes, ends wasteful subsidies, protects Medicare and education, and puts this country back on the right track," Grijalva said. "We believe the American people deserve a choice, and that’s what we intend to give them."
While the Ryan proposal is likely to pass the GOP-led House when it's taken up this week, the progressive blueprint is highly unlikely to reflect the official Democratic opening bid. President Barack Obama is poised to unveil his fiscal 2012 budget [5] Wednesday, and it's believed to seek spending cuts while returning high-income tax rates to Clinton-era levels.
Both parties agree on the need to reduce the nation's massive long-term deficits. And the progressive leaders framed their proposal in terms of who will pick up the tab: the wealthy, or struggling Americans. The GOP proposal, they argue, would "tak[e] trillions of dollars from the pockets of the middle class and giv[e] ever more generous windfalls to millionaires and large corporations."
Republicans vociferously oppose increasing taxes -- including on the wealthiest earners and corporations -- warning that doing so would hamper the economic recovery. America's budget problems, they argue, are caused by excessive spending as opposed to a revenue shortage.
URL to article: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/11/house-progressives-offer-budget-tax-the-rich-end-the-wars-slash-oil-subsidies-invest-in-jobs/WASHINGTON – As the focus on Capitol Hill shifts [1] to America's long-run fiscal woes, Congressional progressives are one step ahead of the White House and Democratic leaders in offering a counter-proposal to the House GOP approach.
The broad sketch proposes to end the Bush-era tax cuts on high income earners, enact a surtax on millionaires and billionaires, increase the the estate tax and eliminate corporate tax loopholes and subsidies for oil and coal companies. It also aims to create a public health insurance option, end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and invest $1.45 trillion in "job creation," energy, housing and education programs.
The revenue-heavy proposal [2] (PDF) stands in stark contrast to the spending cuts-oriented plan put forth by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) -- and championed by GOP leaders [3] -- that slashes $6 trillion in federal programs (including Medicare and Medicaid) while significantly reducing taxes for wealthy Americans and corporations.
"This budget is transparent, straightforward and realistic about where we are in America right now," Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), co-chair of the progressive caucus, told Raw Story. "The Ryan plan, for all the credit it gets for thinking big, doesn’t reflect the reality of the American economy. It destroys the successful programs that made this country strong, especially Medicare and education, and doesn't even try to explain how it creates jobs. It reflects a faith that making government disappear will somehow create prosperity."
The plan is a nonstarter in the GOP-led House and would have a hard time winning over more than a handful of Democrats in the Senate. But Grijalva and his progressive caucus co-chair Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) wrote a letter urging Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), the top Democrat on the budget committee, to consider their ideas in the Democratic counter-offer this week.
In contrast to the Ryan plan, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says will eliminate the deficit by 2040 [4], the progressive proposal -- which its authors have dubbed the "People's Budget" -- promises to yield surpluses by 2021, though it doesn't provide numbers to back the claim.
"We need an alternative that actually creates jobs, closes corporate tax loopholes, ends wasteful subsidies, protects Medicare and education, and puts this country back on the right track," Grijalva said. "We believe the American people deserve a choice, and that’s what we intend to give them."
While the Ryan proposal is likely to pass the GOP-led House when it's taken up this week, the progressive blueprint is highly unlikely to reflect the official Democratic opening bid. President Barack Obama is poised to unveil his fiscal 2012 budget [5] Wednesday, and it's believed to seek spending cuts while returning high-income tax rates to Clinton-era levels.
Both parties agree on the need to reduce the nation's massive long-term deficits. And the progressive leaders framed their proposal in terms of who will pick up the tab: the wealthy, or struggling Americans. The GOP proposal, they argue, would "tak[e] trillions of dollars from the pockets of the middle class and giv[e] ever more generous windfalls to millionaires and large corporations."
Republicans vociferously oppose increasing taxes -- including on the wealthiest earners and corporations -- warning that doing so would hamper the economic recovery. America's budget problems, they argue, are caused by excessive spending as opposed to a revenue shortage.
URLs in this post:
[1] shifts: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/09/11th-hour-miracle-congress-strikes-budget-deal-with-minutes-to-spare-before-a-shutdown/
[2] revenue-heavy proposal: http://grijalva.house.gov/uploads/CPC.Budget.112th.Memo.pdf
[3] championed by GOP leaders: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/05/gop-leaders-champion-plan-to-slash-medicare/
[4] eliminate the deficit by 2040: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/06/cbo-republican-budget-ramps-up-medical-expenses-for-seniors/
[5] poised to unveil his fiscal 2012 budget: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/11/will-obama-support-cuts-to-medicare-and-medicaid/
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