I Will Not Vote For Anyone Who Talks About Reducing Taxes

I am sure that there are a lot of people will not even look at this posting due to the title.  They are the same people who want better roads, wonderful National Parks to visit, better health care for our veterans, teachers and schools that can educate our children, funds for the many natural disasters that seem to be occurring more often and on and on. If you are still reading, stick with me and maybe you will see why I feel this way. I am no expert but I have done a lot of research.

The theory that I keep hearing on why taxes on corporations  keep going lower is because of the "Trickle Down" idea.  Looks to me like there isn't much of a trickle down happening.  Manufacturing jobs have been disappearing for years to other countries and many of the big corporations are no longer based in the United States so they don't have to pay taxes.  Our government, both state and local, gives companies huge tax breaks and the companies pay few, if any, tax returns.

Ten of our largest corporations pay no taxes at all.  Let's take a look at the top four.

1. General Electric
    From 2008 to 2013 General Electric made $33.9 Billion in U.S. profits. They stashed $108 billion
    in offshore accounts.  They received a tax refund of $2.9 billion from the I.R.S. and if they would
    have paid taxes it would have amounted to $37.8 billion.  So their tax rate was -9%.  At the same
    time the CEO made $19 million a year and has a retirement account worth $59 million.
 
2. Boeing
    From 2008 to 2013 Boeing made $26.4 billion in U.S. profits.  They paid no taxes but received
    a tax refund of $401 million dollars. Their tax rate is -2%  They have outsourced tens of
    thousands of jobs to low-wage paying countries and is one of the top recipients of corporate
    welfare.  Last year the CEO made $23.3 million.

3. Verizon
     From 2008 to 2013 Verizon made $42.4 billion in U.S. profits. They received a tax refund of
     $732 million from the I.R.S. and if they had to have paid taxes it would have been in the amount
     $630 million dollars  They also stashed $1.8 billion in offshore accounts.  Their CEO makes $15.8
     million currently. Tax rate of -2%.

4.  Bank of America
     In 2010 Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the I.R.S. even though they made
     $4.4 billion in profit. To top it off, they received a $1.3 Trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve
     and the Treasury Department. From the money they have stashed in offshore accounts they should
     have paid $4.3 billion dollars in taxes. Their CEO made $13.1 million last year.

The list of the worst ten goes on to include Citigroup, Pfizer, FedEx, Honeywell, Merck, and Corning
but the list of other companies goes on and on.  Interesting about these four companies is that all the CEO's sit on something called the Business Roundtable.  They all recommend that the retirement age be raised to 70 for Medicare and Social Security with deep cuts to Social Security. Guess I wouldn't have to worry about a cut to either of these programs if I made millions of dollars a year.

For the past four years President Obama has proposed a reduction in the amount of $4 billion a year
in fossil fuel subsides, Congress would not even discuss them so the fossil fuel industry still receives $37.5 billion dollars a year, from you, the taxpayer. These companies are making billions a year but still getting a handout at the same time tens of thousands of workers are being laid off. Where is the "trickle down" here?

The states operate in much the same way.  There were 23 states the end of July who could not pass a budget by the July 1st deadline due to shortfalls.  They give tax incentives to big business to move to their state and then the state does not have the money to build roads, maintain schools and goes crying to the Federal Government when a tornado or flood occurs.  At the same time they holler about states rights
and not wanting the federal government in their business.

The war in Iraq and Afghanistan was projected to cost $200 billion dollars.  The cost has risen to
$4 trillion dollars and may go to $6 trillion dollars when you include the medical care to our veterans.
All of this money, $4 trillion,  was borrowed with tax cuts for everyone in the country at the same time. The on-going debt ceiling battle is in great part due to the expense of our eleven year battle in the middle east.  The first time in U.S. history that we went to war without a tax increase.

No, I do not want a tax cut. I want our government to make everyone and every corporation pay their fair share.  Get rid of the tax loopholes, stop giving refunds to corporations who pay no taxes, stop the subsides to billion dollar fossil fuel companies and get the money out of the offshore accounts. You and I, the voters, do not get away this behavior.  I will be voting for people who realize the "trickle down" effect has never worked. How can you vote for tax cuts when our government is living on borrowed money and half of our states are broke?

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