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SSOCIATED
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EWSPAPERS OF
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ICHIGAN
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AGE
6
April 26, 2012
Imagine my surprise to find out
that I pay more income tax than
General Electric Corp. I bet you
do, too.
I also paymore tax thanBoeing,
and Wells Fargo because these
guys are actually getting a refund---
-and I don't understand how that is
possible.
A study by Citizens for Tax
Justice from 2008 through 2010
claims that 30 of the Fortune 500
companies made a profit and paid
zero or less in taxes. The average
tax rate for these guys was a nega-
tive 6.7 percent. These guys made
billions. BILLIONS. Then they got
billions more from fools like me. I
amso confused.
In the three-year study, ole GE
made just about $10.5 billion in
profit. The tax return the ever-so-
clever tax people they hired to pre-
pare these reports indicated they
didn't owe a dime but showed a
negative $4.7 billion owed in taxes.
Huh? How'd they do that? Does
that seem correct to you? One of
the largest corporations in
America has a tax rate of a nega-
tive 45.3 percent???
Howdo I get on this gravy train?
Believeme, if I find out, I amgoing
to be the first one to blab this all
over the place, to anybodywhowill
listen. I mean, every single week
that I can remember, the govern-
ments, both state and national,
helped themselves to a healthy
portion of my paycheck. I really
don't know anybody who has a job
who can't say the same.
Wells Fargo got almost $4 billion
and Verizon got $1.3 billion back
from the government over two
years of returns.
Please, could some economist
explain this to me? Oh, wait, my
son has a degree in economics
from the University of Michigan,
along with his law degree, so he
should be able to make me under-
stand this, right?
Not a chance. He just shakes his
head and tells me that there is no
way to understand this mess
unless you are at the very top of
the political food chain as a lobby-
ist or elected official. "Only then
could you understand the price of
a favorable vote on tax laws," he
said.
Um, OK, so what does that
mean to me? It means, my son
explained patiently, that according
to some estimates, these tax loop-
holes, breaks, incentives and actu-
al tax rates cost every single tax-
payer in the country an extra $481
per year.
What, I screamed at a decibel
level usually reserved for use in
emergency warning sirens, are you
talking about? I ampaying GE's tax
bill? I'm paying Verizon and Wells
Fargo's tax? That just can't be. It
just can't.
It can and it is.
These corporate behemoths
take all that money they should
have paid in taxes and spend it on
lobbyists and political action com-
mittees or PACS, which give large,
unrestricted and undocumented
contributions to political candi-
dates and parties to ensure that
they will vote to…yep, you guessed
it, keep the tax laws just as they
are or give them evenmore breaks
while the rest of us pay and pay
and pay. The 30 companies that
paid no tax from 2008-2010 spent
$500million on lobbying.
Sounds like a good investment
to me when you get that kind of
return on your dollar. I'm just real-
ly annoyed that I have to help pay
for it.
Yeah, I include myself in that
class of poor people who are drag-
ging the country down by scream-
ing about these large industries
not paying taxes. Anyway, that's
what many of the Republicans in
Washington say about those of us
in the 99 percent who just want the
other 1 percent to pay their fair
share instead of
making us do it.
My heavens,
what would happen to these large
businesses if the tax rate went
back to where it was during the
Clinton administration?
Imean after all, that really crip-
pled the economy back then, right?
I mean nobody was doing well and
the economy was, well…oh, wait,
actually, it was booming. Look it
up.
This is the most upside down,
inside out, unfair and socially irre-
sponsible form of taxation without
representation sinceKingGeorge.
Welfare and social programs
were designed to benefit the less
fortunate, not have the less fortu-
nate subsidize the wealthiest cor-
porations and individuals in the
country.
Obviously, I'm not the only one
who's confused.
The campaign season has officially begun in Plymouth
Township.
Clear evidence of that is yet another mailer received by
both city and township residents regarding the changesmade
to the emergency fire service and the “rightsizing” of the
township fire department. This slick, enamel piece of litera-
ture carefully bridges the line between campaign promotion
and general information in an effort to avoid those pesky
campaign finance regulations about using taxpayers' money
to fund the campaign of an incumbent seeking re-election.
This piece of almost-propaganda obviously didn’t come
cheap, before postage costs.
Add that to the contentious meeting of Lake Pointe subdi-
vision residents last week when current Plymouth Township
Supervisor Richard Reaume spoke and it is clear that the
campaign fertilizer is already flying at exceptional velocity.
This meeting was curious, too, when, obviously attempting
to protect Reaume from any dissidents or residents who
might question his rationalization of the closure of the fire
stationwhich serves the subdivision, themeetingwas labeled
as private and only dues-paying homeowners association
members in good standing were allowed to attend. The board
president demanded identification at the door and went so
far as to deny admission to people who were interested in
what Reaume had to say but who hadn't paid their annual $35
dues orwhoweren't residents. Curioser and curioser.
Despite their best efforts, some of those pesky dissidents
insisting on the truth actually snuck in however, and even
went so far as to ask questions.
If this wasn't a campaign speech, there’s never been one.
Reaume spent about an hour talking about the benefits and
necessities of reducing the fire department staff bymore than
half, of closing fire stations and using a private ambulance
service and on-call volunteer firefighters.
When questioned about his refusal to allow residents to
vote on a millage and being forced by a circuit court order
after four court appearances to place the question on a ballot,
he had nothing to say about hiking themillage ballot question
to 10 times the amount petitioners had requested ensuring a
defeat. Perhaps avoiding this kind of ugly truth was the rea-
son for the attempt to keep the meeting limited to only those
who met with the approval and qualifications of the presi-
dent of the homeowners' association.
After all, there really isn't a good answer to that question of
fact, nomatter howexpert one is atmanipulating public opin-
ion.
We admit, we were surprised, however, at the violent reac-
tion of the association president to the questions. His shout-
Racism
is still
alive
”
Campaigning season has already started
After all, there really isn't a good answer to
that question of fact, no matter how expert
one is at manipulating public opinion.
Throughout the area tomor-
row, there will be people stand-
ing up for a principle long fought
for in our country, Sponsored by
the YMCA, tomorrow will be
Take A Stand Against Racism
Day and more than 2,000 people
are expected to participate.
We cannot help but applaud
the YMCA, an organization that
has been at the forefront of the
fight for equality for decades, for
this effort, which is scheduled
annually.
It is unfortunate that such a
demonstration and reminder is
necessary, but recent events
screaming from newspaper
headlines and across every
media outlet in the nation make
it clear that racism continues to
contaminate many segments of
American society.
We speak, of course, of the
Trayvon Martin killing in
Florida, something everyone
wishes had never happened.
Only the man who was at the
scene of the shooting and who
took this child's life know for cer-
tain if racism played any part in
this tragic incident. He likewise
is the only one who knows exact-
ly what really happened between
the two of them and if his actions
were predicated in any way on
prejudice. A jury will decide
what happened and the rest of us
will have to accept that conclu-
sion and decision, whatever it
may be.
That said, there are other
instances of racismwhich contin-
ue in our country, but when we
look back, even a few years, we
can see only the growth of accept-
ance, understanding and toler-
ance, despite the above incident.
Things are better and racism is
no longer the norm or an accept-
ed or acceptable formof conduct,
not in business, not socially, not
in government and certainly not
in education.
Events such as this one, spon-
sored by the YMCA are some-
times difficult to accept by many
who think the issue of racism
should be ignored or just go
away. They want to pretend that
it no longer exists at all and that
racial prejudice and bias has
been eradicated. If only that
were true.
Racism continues and
remains a fact of life. It is harder
to find and far less prevalent
than it once was and is condoned
by only a few who are either
mentally deficit, uninformed or
who have been cruellymisled.
While people of all colors and
in every walk of life take a stand
against racism tomorrow, we
hope that there is also an
acknowledgement of the difficult
struggle across our country it
took to get us to this degree of
See
Racism,
page 7
”
This is the most upside down, inside out,
unfair and socially irresponsible form
of taxation without representation since King George.
Warren Buffett may have the right idea
See
Campaign,
page 7