Paying 0.0% in corporate taxes
by Gaius Publius on 10/23/2010 11:14:00 PM
Rachel Maddow had a nice segment last week about taxes. In the first minute or so she talks about a middle class tax cut no one knows they have. Interesting.
Then she lays into the "high corporate tax rate" hypocrisy (starting about 1:40 in the clip). This theme is everywhere these days, almost part of the water supply, and always disguised as concern for "jobs". (Jobs? What they really mean is "profits" - make that substitution and their words start to make sense.)
Though both discussions are interesting, it's the second one I draw your attention to. Note especially the run of politicians (first at 3:10, then 5:00) pleading for lower corporate taxes - it's quite a display.
And as these people speak their obfuscations, keep in mind the notion of "political retainers". You really are watching retainers in action, earning their daily bread, just as you and I do when we go to work.
One quibble - big corporations don't "find loopholes" (as she says at 2:50 in the clip), they purchase them. But that said, good on her for pointing this out, and also for including GE (her boss's boss's soon-to-be ex-boss) in the list.
GP