Just How Much Out of Our Taxes Go To CORPORATE Welfare?

[FORD]

[FORD]

Published on Monday, September 23, 2013 by Common Dreams
Add It Up: The Average American Family Pays $6,000 a Year in Subsidies to Big Business
by Paul Buchheit

$6,000.

That's over and above our payments to the big companies for energy and food and housing and health care and all our tech devices. It's $6,000 that no family would have to pay if we truly lived in a competitive but well-regulated free-market economy.

The $6,000 figure is an average, which means that low-income families are paying less. But it also means that families (households) making over $72,000 are paying more than $6,000 to the corporations.

1. $870 for Direct Subsidies and Grants to Companies

The Cato Institute estimates that the U.S. federal government spends $100 billion a year on corporate welfare. That's an average of $870 for each one of America's 115 million families. Cato notes that this includes "cash payments to farmers and research funds to high-tech companies, as well as indirect subsidies, such as funding for overseas promotion of specific U.S. products and industries...It does not include tax preferences or trade restrictions."

It does include payments to 374 individuals on the plush Upper East Side of New York City, and others who own farms, including Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and Ted Turner. Wealthy heir Mark Rockefeller received $342,000 to NOT farm, to allow his Idaho land to return to its natural state.

It also includes fossil fuel subsidies, which could be anywhere from $10 billion to $41 billion per year for research and development. Yet this may be substantially underestimated. The IMF reports U.S. fossil fuel subsidies of $502 billion, which would be almost $4,400 per U.S. family by taking into account "the effects of energy consumption on global warming [and] on public health through the adverse effects on local pollution." According to Grist, even this is an underestimate.

2. $696 for Business Incentives at the State, County, and City Levels

The subsidies mentioned above are federal subsidies. A New York Times investigation found that states, counties and cities give up over $80 billion each year to companies, with beneficiaries coming from "virtually every corner of the corporate world, encompassing oil and coal conglomerates, technology and entertainment companies, banks and big-box retail chains."

$80 billion a year is $696 for every U.S. family. But the Times notes that "The cost of the awards is certainly far higher."

3. $722 for Interest Rate Subsidies for Banks

According to the Huffington Post, the "U.S. Government Essentially Gives The Banks 3 Cents Of Every Tax Dollar." They cite research that calculates a nearly 1 percent benefit to banks when they borrow, through bonds and customer deposits and other liabilities. This amounts to a taxpayer subsidy of $83 billion, or about $722 from every American family.

The wealthiest five banks -- JPMorgan, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. and Goldman Sachs -- account for three-quarters of the total subsidy. The Huffington Post article notes that without the taxpayer subsidy, those banks would not make a profit. In other words, "the profits they report are essentially transfers from taxpayers to their shareholders."

4. $350 for Retirement Fund Bank Fees

This was a tough one to calculate. Demos reports that over a lifetime, bank fees can "cost a median-income two-earner family nearly $155,000 and consume nearly one-third of their investment returns." Fees are well over one percent a year.

However, the Economic Policy Institute notes that the average middle-quintile retirement account is $34,981. A conservative one percent annual management fee translates to about $350 per family. This, again, is an average; many families have no retirement account. But many families pay much more than 1% in annual fees.

5. $1,268 for Overpriced Medications

According to Dean Baker, "government granted patent monopolies raise the price of prescription drugs by close to $270 billion a year compared to the free market price." This represents an astonishing annual cost of over $2,000 to an average American family.

OECD figures on pharmaceutical expenditures reveal that Americans spend almost twice the OECD average on drugs, an additional $460 per capita. This translates to $1,268 per household.

6. $870 for Corporate Tax Subsidies

We've heard a lot about tax avoidance and tax breaks for the super-rich. With regard to corporations alone, the Tax Foundation has concluded that their "special tax provisions" cost taxpayers over $100 billion per year, or $870 per family. Corporate benefits include items such as Graduated Corporate Income, Inventory Property Sales, Research and Experimentation Tax Credit, Accelerated Depreciation, and Deferred taxes.

Once again, it may be even worse. Citizens for Tax Justice cite a Government Accountability Office report that calculated a loss to the Treasury of $181 billion from corporate tax expenditures. That would be almost $1,600 per family.

7. $1,231 for Revenue Losses from Corporate Tax Havens

U.S. PIRG recently reported that the average 2012 taxpayer paid an extra $1,026 in taxes to make up for the revenue lost from offshore tax havens by corporations and wealthy individuals. With 138 million taxpayers (1.2 per household), that comes to $1,231 per household.

Much More Than an Insult

Overall, American families are paying an annual $6,000 subsidy to corporations that have doubled their profits and cut their taxes in half in ten years while cutting 2.9 million jobs in the U.S. and adding almost as many jobs overseas.

This is more than an insult. It's a devastating attack on the livelihoods of tens of millions of American families. And Congress just lets it happen.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License


Paul Buchheit is a college teacher, an active member of US Uncut Chicago, founder and developer of social justice and educational websites (UsAgainstGreed.org, PayUpNow.org, RappingHistory.org), and the editor and main author of "American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (Clarity Press). He can be reached at paul@UsAgainstGreed.org.

[jacksmar]

GOP can make 2014 elections a referendum on corporate welfare


“Whose side are you on?”

That's the Democratic mantra for the 2014 elections. It's the same “people versus the powerful” line that Democrats trot out every two years, because it works.

But this year Republicans can turn this narrative on its head and make the midterm elections a referendum. Are you on the side of the Republicans, taxpayers and free enterprise? Or are you on the side of President Obama, K Street and corporate welfare?

Two high-stakes corporate welfare issues could be on the table this year: taxpayer-backed subsidies for big exporters and Obamacare's insurer bailouts. Democrats are shackled to the corporate-welfare side on both these issues. Republicans -- if they side with their free-market principles over their big business donors -- can run against crony capitalism.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/gop-can-make-2014-elections-a-referendum-on-corporate-welfare/article/2545304?utm_source=Tim%20Carney%20Reoccurring%20-%2003/12/2014&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Washington%20Examiner:%20Timothy%20P%20Carney

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Corporate welfare is going to resonate with nobody whatsoever, except a few who understand that subsidies, grants, money just plain given by government to corporations, and laws made to favor corporations over small business defines corporate welfare.

[FORD]

The party that is 100% controlled by the BCE and the KKKoch Brothers running against corporate warfare.

Yeah, that's about as logical as the Phelps Kult marching in a Gay Pride parade.

[jacksmar]

Did anyone else notice the jump on Drudge for texting his tax bill?

The fact is that Drudge has to pay estimated taxes for this year quarterly this year not next year. It's really hard for people that have never signed the front of a paycheck to understand some people have different tax schedules.

Small businesses pay quarterly estimated taxes for NEXT year so to have an accurate estimate, and to make sure he pays enough to avoid a penalty for under-paying, he probably included the 2015 penalty.

And you are paying now for 2015 Obamacare. If you have payroll deductions for taxes taken out of your weekly paycheck and you are going to have to pay the Obamacare penalty for 2014, then guess what? You are already paying the penalty now.

.

[jacksmar]

The party that is 100% controlled by the BCE and the KKKoch Brothers running against corporate warfare.

Yeah, that's about as logical as the Phelps Kult marching in a Gay Pride parade.

Regardless of your hair on fire blather, we agree on this one dumbass. This is a populist issue so it won't go anywhere.

Every green job dollar and as much as I don't like to admit it, defense contract dollar is by definition a form of corporate welfare.

[FORD]

You're equating green jobs with the "defense" industry?

Seriously? The "defense" industry probably causes more pollution than anybody else on earth. Sure, it would rival the energy industries themselves, but who is it that burns the most oil and creates the most nuclear waste? The "defense" industry, of course.

As I've said in numerous other threads, there's a difference between "spending" and "investment". Infrastructure is an investment. When FDR built dams, and rural electrification, it created jobs, and those jobs paid forward in the new businesses that were created as a result. When Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System, same thing. This country needs another huge commitment to infrastructure on that level, and green infrastructure will be a huge part of that. What Germany has done with solar power in just one decade is a great example of what can - and should - be done here. Replacing existing roads and bridges is another. Had one collapse in this state last year, and it wasn't the oldest one. Not by a long shot. The bridge that goes over the Columbia river into Portland, is close to the century mark.

On the other hand, not a single penny that has been wasted in Iraq or Afghanistan (or Vietnam & Korea, for that matter) will ever be seen again. The CIA is probably raking in a lot of money from the opium crops, but that ain't going into the public treasury.

So you can't really put "green jobs" and the "defense" industry in the same column. More like polar opposites, really.

[FORD]

I can't put it any better than the last decent Republican president did........

[jacksmar]

You know this is why it’s so hard I have a decent conversation around here. With your hair still on fire, you made an idiotic a leap between definition and comparison.

Check your comprehension skills. Not at the door, but before you post next time. Corporate welfare is the topic.

To your comparison; Solyndra reported producing about 12.5 million pounds of hazardous waste, most of it carcinogenic cadmium-contaminated water. And they didn’t even sell a panel.

[Nitro Express]

The party that is 100% controlled by the BCE and the KKKoch Brothers running against corporate warfare.

Yeah, that's about as logical as the Phelps Kult marching in a Gay Pride parade.

The thing is political parties get bought up by the big money. It's very hard to compete with people who don't have to work for a living and can focus on politics 100% because they are being financially backed. The grass roots don't have that luxury. Then while we are out there trying to make a living they are working on taking away what we have built up.

The trend is to take everyone down below the very top levels. I mean it's just a few people. It would be easy to clamp down on them but doing it within the system they have bought is very frustrating.

[Nitro Express]

What people need to understand is we have an open line of credit with The Federal Reserve Bank. The Federal Reserve Dollar (most call it the US Dollar) is a debt instrument. The US Treasury Department issues a promissory note to the Federal Reserve Bank. They charge us interest on each dollar. The american citizens earnings and federal lands like our national parks are collateral on these loans. Who really wants to disarm and enslave the US? The Federal Reserve board. They need to position themselves so they can take our real assets using payment of debt as the excuse. Just the same tricks the World Bank and IMF use on African countries. It's why they are so poor. They got a double whammy with the US. They got use of our military to take countries down. Private central banks man. They are like vultures. Their debt is crushing if you can't pull a bigger gun on them than they can on you.

[FORD]

You know this is why it’s so hard I have a decent conversation around here. With your hair still on fire, you made an idiotic a leap between definition and comparison.

Check your comprehension skills. Not at the door, but before you post next time. Corporate welfare is the topic.

To your comparison; Solyndra reported producing about 12.5 million pounds of hazardous waste, most of it carcinogenic cadmium-contaminated water. And they didn’t even sell a panel.

I don't buy into the false equivalency bullshit. Even if "Solyndra" was everything FAUX Noize tried to say it was (and that's a huge IF) it's still one fucked up company vs 65 years of "defense" corruption. Ike warned us about it in the speech I posted above. He did so again in his last official speech before leaving office......

Ike was proven right.... and probably far beyond what he ever imagined possible. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say the man who followed him in that office was murdered by the very machine he spoke of.

But there's no such thing as a "solar wind hippie industrial complex". We should fucking be so lucky......

[ELVIS]

Hey guys...

FORD ain't listenin...

He's 100% agenda driven...

But you knew that already...

[ELVIS]

I can't put it any better than the last decent Republican president did........

Yeah, I hear ya...

But you're agenda causes you to be dishonest...

[Nitro Express]

At the end of the day. He with the biggest hammer wins. The law of the jungle is still with us.