Thursday, January 15, 2009

Some stuff I'll bet you didn't know


Yesterday, Rich Fisher of Studio Tulsa interviewed David Cay Johnston on our local NPR station and I really learned some stuff that horrified me.

Did you know that some of the big box companies like Wal-Mart actually work out deals with politicians so that they get to KEEP the sales tax they charge? And you thought those taxes were going to pay for police protection and to pay the fire fighters. I had no idea this was even legal. Money that we think is a tax to the state government is actually pumping up these companies' bottom lines.

Also, more companies than I realized have "located" (on paper only) in the Cayman Islands so that they pay almost nothing in taxes whatsoever.

You can get a summary about all this by reading Johnston's short article in Mother Jones called "Fiscal Therapy". I really recommend it.

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