How Wall Street Speculation and Tax Avoidance are Starving Public Revenues

[midnight]

"Collectively, states lost approximately $297 billion in tax revenues from late 2008 to 2010 due to the housing bubble collapse. Unlike cities and the federal government, states cannot borrow money to finance operating costs and must choose between tax increases, spending cuts, or a combination of the two to plug budget holes."



While it is not news to those of us witnessing what is going on in Wisconsin that this is the way the states are dealing with this "inside job"-making vets, nurses, teachers pay with their benefits... Wisconsin's 14 senators saw what Scott Walker did in Milwaukee co.

The movie the Inside Job brings to light that the largest transfer of wealth from this working class is making them a double victim.... What I want to know is why Washington in making us double down and be responsible for an economic hit that happened on their watch.... Why are they not holding these banks and corporations accountable?


"Closing special tax loopholes on the financial sector and implementing sensible revenue-raising initiatives such as the Financial Speculation Tax could generate over $150 billion in federal tax revenue each year."

http://www.makewallstreetpay.org/bigbankdrain/big-bank-tax-drain.pdf

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. k

[ThomCat]

2. Why is Washington making us responsible for the economic hit?

Because the rich people who are really responsible are paying Washington to make us take the fall.

Because the rich people who are really responsible have created a culture in Washington in which it is political suicide to suggest that rich people should take the blame for anything.

Because money equals speech, and therefore wealthy people speak very loudly, all the time. All of us combined can only afford to whisper, and we can't even do that very often, so we are very easy to ignore. In fact, wealthy people are constantly paying to tell them loudly to ignore us, so they listen. That's where their money comes from.

:(

[snot]

4. +1!

[midnight]

6. What about taking this to court? Their is already a movie that

has shown DC that the cat is out of the bag.... via "Inside Job"

[ThomCat]

7. You would have to find a judge that isn't already owned

by the right. And then hope that none of the judges that your case will get appealed to on the way up have been bought and paid for.

But republicans have been working or decades to control the judiciary. Corporations have been helping them. More and more judgeships are elected positions, meaning corporate money is all that matters, and the judges are being corrupted by corporate money just like politicians. But even at the appointed level, many of the judges were appointed based on right-wing ideology.

The days when we could count on the courts to provide a sane and rational counter to corruption in politics are long gone. Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Roberts are the model now for what we can all expect.

[JohnWxy]

3. I wish I could have recommended 100 times! One for every Billion $s lost to off-shore tax evaders!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3831992">Offshore Tax Havens: A State-By-State Breakdown Of The Cost To Taxpayers

http://cdn.publicinterestnetwork.org/assets/b16ca24832a32d7d08fcfbb224eed3de/USP-Tax-Shell-Game-2010_Final.pdf">Tax Shell Game: What do Tax Dodgers Cost You? - ($100 Billion a year)- PIRG

Offshore tax havens cost taxpayers revenue totaling as much as $100 billion per year -
$1 trillion over 10 years. Individuals and corporations based in the U.S. who pay taxes
on their revenues must shoulder this burden for those who do not.4


http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/supporting/2008/071708PSIReport.pdf">TAX HAVEN BANKS AND U. S. TAX COMPLIANCE STAFF REPORT PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE, Senator Carl Levin, Chairman

executive summary:

Each year, the United States loses an estimated $100 billion in tax revenues due to
offshore tax abuses.1 Offshore tax havens today hold trillions of dollars in assets provided by
citizens of other countries, including the United States.2 The extent to which those assets
represent funds hidden from tax authorities by taxpayers from the United States and other
countries outside of the tax havens is of critical importance.3 A related issue is the extent to
which financial institutions in tax havens may be facilitating international tax evasion.
(more)

....

1 This $100 billion estimate is derived from studies conducted by a variety of tax experts. See, e.g., Joseph
Guttentag and Reuven Avi-Yonah, “Closing the International Tax Gap,” in Max B. Sawicky, ed., Bridging the Tax
Gap: Addressing the Crisis in Federal Tax Administration (2006) (estimating offshore tax evasion by individuals at
$40-$70 billion annually in lost U.S. tax revenues); Kimberly A. Clausing, “Multinational Firm Tax Avoidance and
U.S. Government Revenue” (August 2007) (estimating corporate offshore transfer pricing abuses resulted in $60
billion in lost U.S. tax revenues in 2004); John Zdanowics, “Who’s watching our back door?” Business Accents
magazine, Volume 1, No.1, Florida International University (Fall 2004) (estimating offshore corporate transfer
pricing abuses resulted in $53 billion in lost U.S. tax revenues in 2001); “The Price of Offshore,” Tax Justice
Network briefing paper (March 2005) (estimating that, worldwide, individuals have offshore assets totaling $11.5
trillion, resulting in $255 billion in annual lost tax revenues worldwide); “Governments and Multinational
Corporations in the Race to the Bottom,” Tax Notes (2/27/06); “Data Show Dramatic Shift of Profits to Tax
Havens,” Tax Notes (9/13/04). See also series of 2007 articles authored by Martin Sullivan in Tax Notes
(estimating over $1.5 trillion in hidden assets in four tax havens, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, and Switzerland,
beneficially owned by nonresident individuals likely avoiding tax in their home jurisdictions), infra footnote 3.

[dreamnightwind]

5. Thank you

for this post

[midnight]

9. I agree with the posters link you provided me with....

"Here's my policy: any corporation, or corporate officers, sheltering revenues offshore would be prohibited from bidding for (or being awarded) ANY government contracts. Period. " Offshore Tax Havens: A State-By-State Breakdown Of The Cost To Taxpayers.

[Citizen Worker]

8. This should eliminate any doubt who actually runs the nation, don't you think?

[dreamnightwind]

10. K & R - nt