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Hey, Corporate America! Show Taxpayers Some Appreciation! By
Ralph Nader
If you work for a corporation, ask your own employer to
support Taxpayer Appreciation Day. (We?ve included contact
information at the end of the article.)
Take Action Now! April 15 is just around the corner. Please
let us know what action you?ve taken and what type of
response you receive at [email protected]
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that April
15th of each year be designated Taxpayer Appreciation Day, a
day when corporations receiving taxpayer subsidies,
bailouts, and other forms of corporate welfare can express
their thanks to the citizens who provide them.
Though it may not be evident, quite a few industries -- and
the profits they generate -- can be traced back to taxpayer-
financed programs whose fruits have been given away to
(mostly) larger businesses.
Taxpayer dollars have often funded discoveries made by NASA,
the Department of Defense, and the National Institutes of
Health and other federal agencies. In many instances the
rights to those discoveries were later given away to
companies that brag about them as though they were the
fruits of their own investments. Taxpayer dollars have
played a major role in the growth of the aviation and
aerospace, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and
telecommunications industries -- to name only a few.
Though corporate America insists it must file yearly income
taxes just like everyone else, it is responsible for a
sharply decreasing portion of federal tax dollars -- despite
record profits. Despite record profits, corporate tax
contributions to the federal budget have been steadily
declining for fifty years and now stand at a mere 7.4% of
the federal government income because of the loopholes they
driven into our tax laws. The average citizen pays more than
four to five times that in federal income tax revenues (with
the single exception of payroll taxes).
Clearly corporations that believe they are self-reliant are
often, in fact, dependent on taxpayer funds to maintain
their financial viability. The least they could do is thank
us. Which is why we need something like Taxpayer
Appreciation Day. Consider the following:
General Electric bought RCA (which owned NBC) in the mid-
1980s with funds it was able to save by using an outrageous
tax loophole passed by Congress in 1981. That loophole
allowed GE to pay no federal taxes on three years of
profits, totaling more than $6 billion dollars. It also gave
them a $125 million refund! That gave GE the money to buy
RCA. GE should arrange a media extravaganzas on NBC to say
"Thank you, taxpayers.? Pharmaceutical companies constantly
ballyhoo their discoveries in advertisements. What they
don't tell us is that many of the important nonredundant
therapeutic drugs -- including most anticancer drugs -- were
developed, in whole or in part, with taxpayer money and then
given to them by the NIH and the Defense Department. Bristol-
Meyers Squibb, for example, controls the rights to Taxol, an
anticancer drug developed all the way through human clinical
trials at the National Institutes of Health with $31 million
of taxpayer moneys.
Pharmaceutical companies spend billions on advertisements
each year. Perhaps they should consider a big "Thank You,
Taxpayers" ad campaign every April 15, if only to remind
them where their drug research and development subsidies
come from.
Mining companies often receive vast sweetheart deals from
taxpayers. Under the 1872 Mining Act hard rock mining
companies are allowed to purchase mining rights to public
land for only $5 an acre, no matter how valuable the
minerals on (or in) that land might be. A Canadian company
recently mined $9 billion in gold on federal land in Nevada
after using the Mining Act to purchase the mining rights to
it for about $30,000. Mining companies owe the taxpayers
their gratitude.
Television broadcasters were given free license to use
public airwaves (worth around $70 billion) by a supine
Congress in 1997. They too should thank us. What about all
those professional sports corporations that play and profit
in taxpayer-funded stadiums and arenas? The owners and
players should thank the fans/taxpayers who -- in spite of
their largess -- still must pay through the nose for
tickets. For years McDonalds received taxpayer subsidies to
promote its products overseas as part of a foreign market
access program. Now McDonalds is a ubiquitous brand name
worldwide, but has it ever thanked the taxpayers who
underwrote its efforts? Then there are the HMOs, hospitals,
and defense contractors that have had their legal fees
reimbursed by the taxpayers when our government prosecutes
them for fraud or cost overruns. Those companies have great
public relations firms that can help them show us their
gratitude. Corporate America has taken too much from us for
too long. It's time it shows us a little bit of
appreciation.
Corporate Contacts:
General Electric (NBC): David Frail Financial Communications
1--203-373-3387 [email protected]
Bristol-Meyers Squibb: Peter R. Dolan, CEO 345 Park Avenue
New York, New York, USA 10154-0037 1-212-546-4000
[email protected]
Viacom (CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, BET, Paramount Pictures,
Viacom Outdoor, Infinity, UPN, Spike TV, TV Land, CMT:
Country Music Television, Comedy Central, Showtime,
Blockbuster, and Simon & Schuster): Sumner M. Redstone ,
Chairman and CEO 1515 Broadway New York, NY 10036 1-212-258-
6000 (refused to provide email addresses)
Walt Disney Co. (ABC): David Eisner, CEO 500 S. Buena Vista
Street Burbank, CA 91521 ABC, Inc. 1-818-460-7477
[email protected]
McDonalds USA: Jim Cantalupo, Chairman and CEO McDonald?s
Plaza Oak Brook, IL 60523 1-800-244-6227 Email on-line form.
Halliburton (Kellogg Brown & Root): David J. Lesar,
Chairman, President & CEO 5 Houston Center 1401 McKinney,
Suite 2400 Houston, TX 77010 1-713-759-2600
[email protected]
In addition to these, pursue your favorite and let us know
what they say!
--
Name's administration cadre comes from the
Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), through such luminaries as C. Clark
Kissinger and Mary Lou Greenberg, both of whom are Directors of NION and
members of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). Clark Kissinger,
co-director of NION and the RCP, was quoted as saying that when the RCP took
over, "it would be necessary to shoot everyone who didn't agree with them."
The RCP is a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist group that practices Lenin's "vanguard"
philosophy, which states that a vanguard of intellectuals is needed to lead
the proletariat in establishing a worker's utopia. It fosters the worldwide
revolution through its membership in the Revolutionary International
Movement (RIM). It is through this affiliation that the RCP is related to
two organizations listed by the State Department as terrorist organizations;
the Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path/Sender Luminoso) and the Kurdish
Workers Party (PKK) are are closely associated with RIM. (The PKK is no
longer a formal member of RIM; however, it was one of RIM's founders. The
Shining Path is still a member.) Other groups that comprise the
Revolutionary Internationalist Movement are the Communist Party of
Turkey/Marxist-Leninist, the Union of Iranian Communists (Sarbedaran)and the
Nepal Communist Party.
The RIM via its publication A WORLD TO WIN declared its belief in the
Palestinian intifada. The February 28, 2002, edition stated "the
Revolutiona
Ralph Nader
If you work for a corporation, ask your own employer to
support Taxpayer Appreciation Day. (We?ve included contact
information at the end of the article.)
Take Action Now! April 15 is just around the corner. Please
let us know what action you?ve taken and what type of
response you receive at [email protected]
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that April
15th of each year be designated Taxpayer Appreciation Day, a
day when corporations receiving taxpayer subsidies,
bailouts, and other forms of corporate welfare can express
their thanks to the citizens who provide them.
Though it may not be evident, quite a few industries -- and
the profits they generate -- can be traced back to taxpayer-
financed programs whose fruits have been given away to
(mostly) larger businesses.
Taxpayer dollars have often funded discoveries made by NASA,
the Department of Defense, and the National Institutes of
Health and other federal agencies. In many instances the
rights to those discoveries were later given away to
companies that brag about them as though they were the
fruits of their own investments. Taxpayer dollars have
played a major role in the growth of the aviation and
aerospace, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and
telecommunications industries -- to name only a few.
Though corporate America insists it must file yearly income
taxes just like everyone else, it is responsible for a
sharply decreasing portion of federal tax dollars -- despite
record profits. Despite record profits, corporate tax
contributions to the federal budget have been steadily
declining for fifty years and now stand at a mere 7.4% of
the federal government income because of the loopholes they
driven into our tax laws. The average citizen pays more than
four to five times that in federal income tax revenues (with
the single exception of payroll taxes).
Clearly corporations that believe they are self-reliant are
often, in fact, dependent on taxpayer funds to maintain
their financial viability. The least they could do is thank
us. Which is why we need something like Taxpayer
Appreciation Day. Consider the following:
General Electric bought RCA (which owned NBC) in the mid-
1980s with funds it was able to save by using an outrageous
tax loophole passed by Congress in 1981. That loophole
allowed GE to pay no federal taxes on three years of
profits, totaling more than $6 billion dollars. It also gave
them a $125 million refund! That gave GE the money to buy
RCA. GE should arrange a media extravaganzas on NBC to say
"Thank you, taxpayers.? Pharmaceutical companies constantly
ballyhoo their discoveries in advertisements. What they
don't tell us is that many of the important nonredundant
therapeutic drugs -- including most anticancer drugs -- were
developed, in whole or in part, with taxpayer money and then
given to them by the NIH and the Defense Department. Bristol-
Meyers Squibb, for example, controls the rights to Taxol, an
anticancer drug developed all the way through human clinical
trials at the National Institutes of Health with $31 million
of taxpayer moneys.
Pharmaceutical companies spend billions on advertisements
each year. Perhaps they should consider a big "Thank You,
Taxpayers" ad campaign every April 15, if only to remind
them where their drug research and development subsidies
come from.
Mining companies often receive vast sweetheart deals from
taxpayers. Under the 1872 Mining Act hard rock mining
companies are allowed to purchase mining rights to public
land for only $5 an acre, no matter how valuable the
minerals on (or in) that land might be. A Canadian company
recently mined $9 billion in gold on federal land in Nevada
after using the Mining Act to purchase the mining rights to
it for about $30,000. Mining companies owe the taxpayers
their gratitude.
Television broadcasters were given free license to use
public airwaves (worth around $70 billion) by a supine
Congress in 1997. They too should thank us. What about all
those professional sports corporations that play and profit
in taxpayer-funded stadiums and arenas? The owners and
players should thank the fans/taxpayers who -- in spite of
their largess -- still must pay through the nose for
tickets. For years McDonalds received taxpayer subsidies to
promote its products overseas as part of a foreign market
access program. Now McDonalds is a ubiquitous brand name
worldwide, but has it ever thanked the taxpayers who
underwrote its efforts? Then there are the HMOs, hospitals,
and defense contractors that have had their legal fees
reimbursed by the taxpayers when our government prosecutes
them for fraud or cost overruns. Those companies have great
public relations firms that can help them show us their
gratitude. Corporate America has taken too much from us for
too long. It's time it shows us a little bit of
appreciation.
Corporate Contacts:
General Electric (NBC): David Frail Financial Communications
1--203-373-3387 [email protected]
Bristol-Meyers Squibb: Peter R. Dolan, CEO 345 Park Avenue
New York, New York, USA 10154-0037 1-212-546-4000
[email protected]
Viacom (CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, BET, Paramount Pictures,
Viacom Outdoor, Infinity, UPN, Spike TV, TV Land, CMT:
Country Music Television, Comedy Central, Showtime,
Blockbuster, and Simon & Schuster): Sumner M. Redstone ,
Chairman and CEO 1515 Broadway New York, NY 10036 1-212-258-
6000 (refused to provide email addresses)
Walt Disney Co. (ABC): David Eisner, CEO 500 S. Buena Vista
Street Burbank, CA 91521 ABC, Inc. 1-818-460-7477
[email protected]
McDonalds USA: Jim Cantalupo, Chairman and CEO McDonald?s
Plaza Oak Brook, IL 60523 1-800-244-6227 Email on-line form.
Halliburton (Kellogg Brown & Root): David J. Lesar,
Chairman, President & CEO 5 Houston Center 1401 McKinney,
Suite 2400 Houston, TX 77010 1-713-759-2600
[email protected]
In addition to these, pursue your favorite and let us know
what they say!
--
Name's administration cadre comes from the
Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), through such luminaries as C. Clark
Kissinger and Mary Lou Greenberg, both of whom are Directors of NION and
members of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). Clark Kissinger,
co-director of NION and the RCP, was quoted as saying that when the RCP took
over, "it would be necessary to shoot everyone who didn't agree with them."
The RCP is a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist group that practices Lenin's "vanguard"
philosophy, which states that a vanguard of intellectuals is needed to lead
the proletariat in establishing a worker's utopia. It fosters the worldwide
revolution through its membership in the Revolutionary International
Movement (RIM). It is through this affiliation that the RCP is related to
two organizations listed by the State Department as terrorist organizations;
the Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path/Sender Luminoso) and the Kurdish
Workers Party (PKK) are are closely associated with RIM. (The PKK is no
longer a formal member of RIM; however, it was one of RIM's founders. The
Shining Path is still a member.) Other groups that comprise the
Revolutionary Internationalist Movement are the Communist Party of
Turkey/Marxist-Leninist, the Union of Iranian Communists (Sarbedaran)and the
Nepal Communist Party.
The RIM via its publication A WORLD TO WIN declared its belief in the
Palestinian intifada. The February 28, 2002, edition stated "the
Revolutiona