http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6827
Congress Rewards Corporate Tax Evaders With Our Money
Arianna Huffington is a syndicated columnist and author of How to
Overthrow the Government.
As the war on terrorshows troubling signs of becoming a war of error, the
Bush administration is waging a far more successful war on behalf of its
corporate backers. The latest victory comes courtesy of Congress' 11th
hour reversal of a provision in the Homeland Security bill banning
government contracts for companies that move offshore to avoid paying
U.S. taxes.
This vote, shamelessly draped in the American flag, is so hypocritical,
so despicable, and such an unmitigated "screw you" to every American
taxpayer that it has sent me scrambling in search of a barricade to
storm.
The sleazy backroom maneuvering that yielded this year-end dividend for
expat corporations offers a perfect -- and perfectly nauseating -- case
study in how Washington works. The same leaders who never miss a chance
to be seen tearfully singing "God Bless America" with their hands over
their disloyal hearts have allowed profits to trump patriotism, even in a
time of war.
Earlier this year, with the stink of Enron, Global Crossing, and WorldCom
filling the air, the House and Senate, after sensing -- and exhaustively
polling -- the public mood, voted overwhelmingly to keep corporate
expatriates from milking and bilking the government at the same time. It
was a political no-brainer. A red, white and blue slam-dunk. After all,
the sooner the issue was stamped "taken care of," the sooner those
bothersome questions about Dick Cheney's serial use of offshore shelters
while running Halliburton would fade away.
And with the dogs of war in full cry, no politicians in their right mind
dared come out in favor of allowing tax dodgers to stick their hands in
Uncle Sam's pockets. Out on the campaign trail, even the most
corporate-friendly campaigners made it clear that they stood foursquare
against such unpatriotic behavior.
"We ought to look at people who are trying to avoid U.S. taxes as a
problem," roared President Bush. "I think American companies ought to pay
taxes and be good citizens." Trent Lott was equally exercised. "It
agitates me that companies will be doing that," he fumed. Cue "God Bless
America."
Then Election Day came and went, and lots and lots of big corporate
checks were cashed. It was payback time. And a bipartisan who's who of
power lobbyists -- including former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole,
former House Ways and Means chairman Bill Archer, former House
Appropriations chair Bob Livingston, and former Senate Intelligence
chairman Dennis DeConcini -- made sure that the expat companies'
government gravy train was kept running, "Mussolini-style," right on
schedule.
With the public's attention diverted elsewhere -- namely Iraq, and J-Lo
and Ben's engagement -- the tax haven crowd found a much more receptive
audience in Washington. Operating behind closed doors, and with next to
no public debate, the lame duck Congress made an abrupt u-turn and
sliced-and-diced the no-contracts-for-tax-cheats rule. And without
blinking an eye, the president happily signed the bill into law.
That barely muffled cheer you might have heard came from the
Caribbean-based corporate offices of companies such as scandal-ridden
Tyco, Arthur Andersen progeny Accenture, and Ingersoll-Rand, a corporate
chicken that, in a show of national mourning and solidarity, flew the
coop a mere three months after the 9/11 attacks. All have avoided paying
tens of millions in taxes by reincorporating offshore while pocketing
tens of millions in federal contracts. And now, thanks to their good
friends in Congress, they'll continue to do so. Not only do they not have
to help pay for homeland security, but they're helping themselves to the
spoils of the Homeland Security Act.
Time and again since 9/11, the president has stressed that patriotism
entails more than waving the flag or reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
"Patriotism," he said this summer, "is proven in our concern for others
-- a willingness to sacrifice for people we may never have met." I guess
the tax exiles and their heavy-hitting lobbyists didn't get the
"sacrifice" memo.
The IRS estimates that corporate émigrés are depriving the U.S. Treasury
of around $70 billion a year. Twenty years ago, one out of every six
federal tax dollars was generated by a corporation. That has now fallen
to about one out of every 10. Meanwhile, the rest of us are being asked
to shovel our dollars into the crater left by Bush's tax policies. Maybe
that is what the president had in mind when he talked about sacrificing
"for people we may never have met": digging a little deeper so corporate
execs basking in the sun-dappled glow of tax-free profits won't have to.
It's bad enough that companies that enjoy all the benefits and
protections of operating under the American system are allowed to avoid
paying their fair share -- especially when we are told, again and again,
that we are at war. But allowing those same companies to suckle at the
taxpayer teat -- in the name of keeping our homeland more secure, no less
-- is nothing less than scandalous.
Our leaders should be ashamed -- and make overturning this dreadful
decision the first order of business when the 108th Congress convenes in
January. But I won't be shocked if they don't.
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