Stupid White Men-- and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation! - Michael Moore [27]
Forbes magazine estimates that corporate tax shelters cost us average Americans over $10 billion dollars a year (and we have to make up the difference, by paying more taxes or by losing services). Next time you can’t afford to fix the furnace or replace the computer, you can thank all those fat cats who’ve got you repeating the line “the economy isn’t doing too well right now.”
Instead of collecting this money that’s being stolen from us, how is the IRS spending its time these days? They’ve decided to go after you. That’s right. They’ve thrown up the white flag; they’re surrendering their efforts to get the rich to pay their taxes. Their new policy is to focus on squeezing those who make the least. According to the General Accounting Office, those who earn less than $25,000 a year have seen their IRS audits double-while those earning over $100,000 have seen their audits drop by over 2 5 percent.
What does this mean on the balance sheet? It’s resulted in a drop of 2 6 percent in the amount of taxes corporations pay, while you, the average American, have seen your taxes go up by at least 13 percent. In the 1950s, taxes from corporations made up 27 percent of the revenues for the federal government; today that number has dropped to less than 10 percent. Who has made up the difference? You and your second job.
Part of the reason you’re hearing so much about how bad the economy is these days is that many of those who are getting their pink slips are the friends and family of those reporting the bad news. Unlike the massive layoffs of the eighties, which were all but ignored by those who went to good colleges and made good
money, the layoff massacres today are mostly white-collar and professional. Lay off a few hundred thousand of these people, and you’re gonna hear about it. Why? Well, because it’s ... it’s ... it’s SO UNFAIR! I mean, these high-tech guys paid their dues! They played by the rules, gave their heart and soul and first marriage to the company. They were there for every company retreat, never missed a late-night “think session,” attended every charity event the chairman and his friends threw. And then one day... “Bob, this is an employment counselor we’ve hired to help you with your transition, which we’d like to make as easy for you as possible. Please hand me your keys, and this gentleman with the badge and gun will escort you to your cubicle so you can collect your personal belongings and leave the building in the next twelve minutes.”
There is no downturn. Are businesses earning less than last year? Absolutely. How could they not? The nineties saw these corporations post surreal, over-the-top profits, a once-in-a-lifetime bonanza that had nothing to do with reality. Compare any year’s figures to those, and you’re comparing apples and windfalls. There was a headline the other day that said GM’s profits were down 73 percent from last year. That sounds bad—but last year was nothing short of a profit orgy. Even with that 73 percent drop, GM will still pocket over $800 Million profit in the first half of 2001.
Are dot-coms folding left and night? Of course they are! Big deal. That’s what happens with any new, revolutionary invention—a ton of entrepreneurs hop on board to find their fortune, and in the end only the mediocre but ruthless few are still standing. It’s called C-A-P-1-T-A-L-I-S-M. In 1919, twenty years after the invention of the automobile, there were 108 automobile manufacturers in the United States. Ten years later the number had whittled down to the Big 44 U.S. auto companies. By the end of the fifties it had dropped to 8, and today we have a grand total of 2-1/2 U.S. car