Pay Your Taxes: Fight For Freedom

Me and my sign at the Boston Tea Party (featuring Sarah Palin!), in 2010:

"...and schools, highways, safe air & water, Medicare..."

Too bad GWB's response to sending us to war was to tell us to go shopping.

In the clip below, the propaganda feels weird/odd now, but you can imagine how this could be re-messaged (hopefully without the bloodlust [guns...guns...GUNS...]) for 2003-201?. Watch!!



Thanks to Barry H for calling my attention to this video, via this blog post: The Income Tax as Patriotic Duty » Sociological Images http://bit.ly/GLnp1Y
More on TAXES TAXES TAXES after the flip:

"broaden the tax base"... those cushy poor... (when it's tax cuts it's "only $700 billion".  When it's CUTS to the poor it's $700 BILLION!!!"): 

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World of Class Warfare - The Poor's Free Ride Is Over
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(this is: World of Class Warfare - The Poor"s Free Ride Is Over http://shar.es/beibY)

Taxes and the Social Compact

• See the Disney video above
• Dave Johnson, Tax Cuts Are Theft | OurFuture.org (8/9/10) http://goo.gl/kSgG0

"Taxed Enough Already"

• Bruce Bartlett: The Clinton Tax Challenge for Republicans - NYTimes.com (8/5/2012) http://goo.gl/JVPKQ (on revisionism, reality, economic history, tax policy)
• Fed income tax rate history 1913-2008
• For 3rd straight year, fed taxes under Obama LOWER than Bush (Think Prog, 2/7/2011)
• (Also in Yahoo: "By 1Two measures: taxes lowest in 50 years": in dollars,lower than 07/08, and as percent of GDP)
• Taxes make for happy citizens (Bankrate; Aug 2010?): highest taxed nation = happiest citizens
• In which Reaganite Bruce Bartlett calls the Republicans a plutocrat party, and accuses Democrats of not having the courage of their convictions, of always the beatings and never fighting back.  
• Also, on reforming the tax code: Bruce Bartlett - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 02/22/12 - Video Clip | Comedy Central 

"The Rich Pay Too Much Already"

• "Broaden the tax base"/"47% don't pay taxes"
  
  • Forget the Rich: Tax the Poor and Middle Class! | Truthout  (May 2011) 
• But!: Millionaires Support Warren Buffett’s Tax on the Rich - The Wealth Report - WSJ (Robert Frank, 10/27/2011)
• And!: Ray Medeiros Show: Over Thirty Percent Of Investment Advisers Agree With Occupy Protesters  (10/2011)
• Hell Freezes Over As Wall Street Calls For Tax Increases (May 2011, Ray Medeiros)
• Think Progress: Conservative Economists Claim Taxing The Rich Hurts Small Businesses; Small Businesses Disagree  http://bit.ly/OFOimR  (Aug 2012)

Taxes for the Wealthy and Corporations

• Bush Tax Cuts Have Provided Extremely Large Benefits to Wealthiest Americans Over Last Nine Years — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities - http://goo.gl/xYxrc
• Tax rates of presidential candidates, in one chart - The Washington Post (1/24/2012)
• Buffett On Why Romney Should Pay Higher Taxes: He’s Just ‘Shoving Around Money,’ Not ‘Straining His Back' | ThinkProgress (1/23/2012) 
• Warren Buffett: I’ll Pay Up If Republicans Do The Same | TPMDC (1/11/2012) 
• Norquist: Republicans Will Impeach Obama If He Doesn't Extend Bush Tax Cuts | ThinkProgress (1/2012)
• Krugman, Taxes at the Top - NYTimes.com (1/20/2012): 
• "the larger question isn’t what Mitt Romney’s tax returns have to say about Mitt Romney; it’s what they have to say about U.S. tax policy. Is there a good reason why the rich should bear a startlingly light tax burden?" 
• Romney’s tax plan would cut his own taxes by nearly half, new analysis finds - The Plum Line - The Washington Post (1/18/2012) 
• Connecticut projects $100M budget surplus, credits taxes - Norwich, CT - The Bulletin (12/2011)
• Wall Street Isn't Winning It's Cheating | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone  (10.2011) blog
• ThinkProgress » Ending Special Interest Tax Dodging Would Balance Wisconsin’s Budget And End The War On Unions(2/2011)  
• G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether - NYTimes.com (3/2011)
• FreedomWorks posts the article, with cognitively dissonant headline, and mixed bag of comments (3/2011) (screenshot).  (More comments/2nd screenshot)
• How Offshore Tax Havens Save Companies Billions : NPR (3/2011)
• (from Join the Coffee Party Mvmt:): The American people lose 60 billion dollars a year to corporate tax sheltering. That's a lot of police officers, firemen, and teachers. This program explains how they cheat us, and what we have to do to stop another corporate tax-evasion "amnesty."
• How the average American paid more in federal taxes than GE and Citibank Ryan Witt | Examiner.com 
• If you listened to many conservative candidates over the last few months you would think that the American corporation is the most oppressed entity in the country.  According to Republican talking points, corporations are struggling with the unbelievably high corporate tax rate in America, which currently sits at 35%.  Numerous Republican candidates have advocated lowering the coporate tax rate, which they argue would stimulate the economy.  However, in reality corporations use a number of tax loopholes an fancy accounting to reduce their tax rate significantly.  As Rachel Maddow demonstrated last night, corporations like General Electric and Bank of America ended up paying $0 in federal taxes despite making billions in profits.
• House GOP: Votes Unanimously to Protect Big Oil Subsidies while Imposing Draconian Cuts to Programs Americans use Everyday! // Current (3/2011)
• ThinkProgress: You Have More Money In Your Wallet Than Bank Of America Pays In Federal Taxes (3/2011) 
• "Pay Up Corporate Tax Dodgers: We're chumps unless we force Congress to stop tax haven abuse" Institute for Policy Studies 2/28/2011 
• "The next time you read a story about some politician bemoaning that there's no money and we have to make cuts, just point to the artful tax dodgers in our midst'
• Spending Cuts vs. Tax Breaks CHART (Ctr for American Progress, 3/2011)
• How the average American paid more in federal taxes than GE and Citibank - National Political Buzz | Examiner.com (Oct 2010; links to Maddow)

Corporations, subsidies, corporate tax rates

• Oil/gas got $24,000,000 in tax subsidies.  Let's keep the $500,000 Solyndra loan in perspective,y'all. (From "Corporate Tax Payers and Corporate Tax Dodgers, 2008-2010," Citizens for Tax Justice and The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Nov. 2011)

"Broaden the tax base"/"47% don't pay taxes"

• Forget the Rich: Tax the Poor and Middle Class! | Truthout  (May 2011) 

Jon Stewart/"I give up" (re GE's no taxes, plus Obama's flipflop) 3/28/2011

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I Give Up - Pay Anything...
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(March 2011)

The GOP loves taxes! As long as you're poor. Democrats--pay attention.