[Boston-editorial] Op-Ed Submission: America ¹ s Corporate Benedict Arnolds

[sharpie at riseup.net]

Hey folks, i have to say i think this is a solid article and the Benedict
Arnold reference is a nice way of making it sort of more relevant in a fun
silly way to Boston "the cradle of the american revolution"

if we can't be silly, what can we be? and what is "our thing" anyway?

also, I feel like this is solidly written, and folks have been interested
in  featuring, to my opinion, much less solid pieces in the past.

in other news, can we take down red herring's comments to this article:

http://boston.indymedia.org/newswire/display/38616/index.php

they're really pointless/inflammatory. especially the last one. "all power
to the soviets"? i mean come on... that's so 1988.

Also, can we push the NSTAR article off the frontpage, its totally
misleading due to its title, since the strike has been over for weeks.

(i make these requests because i dont have an editorial password yet...)

peace
sharpie

> I think we should put it on the local newswire, but
> not feature it.  It's not really our thing so much,
> it's more for a specialized audience.
>
>
> -Pete
>
>
> --- Matthew Williams <mw21 at mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>> So, anyway, do we want to feature this? I think it's
>> got some good
>> information, but I also think the way it's
>> framed--the whole traitor,
>> Benedict Arnold thing--is kind of silly, which makes
>> me hesitate. --
>> Matt
>>
>> On Jun 13, 2005, at 5:51 PM, Press Room at UFE
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Op-Ed Submission from United for a Fair Economy
>> (617-423-2148 x119)
>> >
>> > America's Corporate Benedict Arnolds
>> >
>> > “That’s un-American” is the cry heard whenever the
>> unwritten code of
>> > American values is breached, Compassion, fairness
>> and equal
>> > opportunity are
>> > hallmarks, and although you might not be able to
>> recite chapter and
>> > verse of
>> > the code, you know when it is broken.
>> >
>> > On this the 204th anniversary of the death of
>> Benedict Arnold, one of
>> > America’s most famous traitors, it’s time to
>> consider whether some of
>> > America’s largest corporations that pay little or
>> no federal taxes,
>> > have
>> > indeed become traitors.
>> >
>> > Large corporations are in full retreat from paying
>> their fair share of
>> > taxes. In 2003, corporations paid just 7% of the
>> cost of the US
>> > government,
>> > according to a study by Citizens for Tax Justice.
>> >
>> > It wasn’t always this way. At the end of the
>> Second World War, a time
>> > when
>> > paying taxes was viewed as a patriotic duty,
>> corporations paid half
>> > the cost
>> > of the federal government. Even as recently as the
>> 1970s, corporate
>> > taxes
>> > accounted for 20% of federal treasury receipts.
>> >
>> > This dramatic change has shifted the cost of
>> paying for government to
>> > smaller businesses and individual taxpayers, while
>> at the same time
>> > boosting
>> > corporate profits and their executive’s pay.
>> >
>> > In 2003, ten companies each reported more than $1
>> billion in profits to
>> > their shareholders, yet paid no federal corporate
>> income tax.
>> > Collectively,
>> > these firms that have claimed the only way they
>> can remain competitive
>> > is
>> > through tax breaks, earned $30 billion in profits
>> and paid their CEOs
>> > $126
>> > million in 2003.  The average pay of the CEOs of
>> the corporate Benedict
>> > Arnolds was $12.6 million, 51% higher than the pay
>> of the average
>> > large-company CEO as reported by Business Week.
>> >
>> > Who are these resurrected Benedict Arnolds? A new
>> report published by
>> > United
>> > for a Fair Economy entitled Corporate Traitors:
>> The Decline of
>> > Corporate
>> > Taxes and the Subsequent Rise of CEO Pay
>> >
>>
> (http://www.faireconomy.org/press/2005/corporatetraitors.pdf)
>> bestows
>> > awards
>> > on some of these tax avoiders.
>> >
>> > Boeing, the nation’s second largest defense
>> contractor, is honored
>> > with the
>> > “Taxes are the Real Enemy” Benedict Arnold award.
>> Boeing received the
>> > largest federal tax refund in 2003. So large was
>> Boeing’s $1.7 billion
>> > tax
>> > refund that it dwarfed the company’s $1 billion in
>> reported earnings,
>> > giving
>> > the company an effective tax rate of -159%
>> according to Citizens for
>> > Tax
>> > Justice.
>> >
>> > Viagra maker Pfizer took home the “Taxpaying
>> Dysfunction (TD)” award.
>> > Despite $14 billion in profits between 2001 and
>> 2003, Pfizer couldn’t
>> > get
>> > excited enough about paying taxes to perform –
>> sending just $1.2
>> > billion to
>> > the federal treasury, a miserly effective tax rate
>> of just 8.2%. In
>> > contrast, Pfizer’s industry competitor Merck paid
>> 32.5% of its $12.7
>> > billion
>> > in three-year profits in federal taxes.
>> >
>> > Pfizer saw no need to be Scrooge-like when it came
>> to paying its CEO
>> > Hank
>> > McKinnell, however, who walked away with $21.4
>> million in 2004, more
>> > than
>> > three times what Merck paid its CEO.
>> >
>> > These disparities in tax rates adversely affect
>> the competitive playing
>> > field not only between giant companies like Pfizer
>> and Merck, but to
>> > an even
>> > greater degree between large companies and small
>> businesses. While the
>> > average large company today pays only 18% of its
>> income in federal
>> > taxes,
>> > many small businesses owners pay 34%.
>> >
>> > Two centuries after Benedict Arnold used his power
>> and influence to
>> > gain a
>> > plum assignment as commander of West Point, and
>> then used that
>> > position to
>> > surrender this important fort to the British, we
>> are witness to other
>> > powerful players using their privilege and
>> standing to rewrite the
>> > nation’s
>> > tax laws for their own gain.
>> >
>> > Corporate tax and accounting departments have
>> morphed from backwater
>> > cost
>> > centers to sexy profit drivers. Investments in
>> research and
>> > development have
>> > shrunk as investments in aggressive lobbying and
>> accounting have
>> > blossomed.
>> > These corporate Benedict Arnolds, like their
>> namesakes, are
>> > jeopardizing the
>> > nation’s security.
>> >
>> > The American public, angered by Arnold’s betrayal,
>> went on to fight and
>> > reclaim West Point from the British. Today the
>> fight is about
>> > restoring the
>> > fairness of the tax system by assuring that
>> corporations pay their fair
>> > share to maintain the society upon which their
>> vast wealth depends.
>> >
>> > The fight has many fronts
>> > -Congress should reform and simplify the corporate
>> tax code, lowering
>> > the
>> > rate, eliminating the myriad of tax breaks and
>> implementing
>> > progressive tax
>> > principles that would tax Big Business at higher
>> rates than small
>> > family
>> > businesses, reversing the current reality.
>> > -The corporate alternative minimum tax,
>> eviscerated by the Clinton
>> > Administration, needs to be restored, so that all
>> profitable companies
>> > pay
>> > taxes.
>> > -We need to withdraw from tax treaties with many
>> of the 90 tax haven
>> > nations
>> > who aid and abet corporate tax avoiders.
>> >
>> > Those who continue down Benedict Arnold’s path
>> might, like the infamous
>> > traitor, consider taking themselves to another
>> country. Their current
>> > behavior is un-American and unacceptable.
>> >
>> > Scott Klinger is the corporate accountability
>> coordinator at United
>> > for a
>> > Fair Economy (http://www.faireconomy.org) and
>> author of the report:
>> > “Corporate Traitors: The Decline of Corporate
>> Taxation and Subsequent
>> > Rise
>> > in CEO Pay.”
>> >
>>
> (http:///www.faireconomy.otg/press/2005/corporatetraitors.pdf)
>> > Scott Klinger may be emailed at
>> sklinger at faireconomy.org.
>> >
>> >
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>> >
>>
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