-Caveat Lector-
RadTimes # 87 October, 2000
An informally produced compendium of vital irregularities.
"We're living in rad times!"
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Contents:
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--Is direct action the new democracy?
--LAPD Homeless Sweeps Target Skid Row
--Ritalin becoming school yard hustlers' newest product
--Study Finds Resurgence in Corporate Tax Avoidance
Linked stories:
*New global role puts FBI in unsavory company
*Judge orders bookstore to turn over invoice
*Editorial: Give Drug Czar More Authority [humor?]
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Begin stories:
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Is direct action the new democracy?
3 October, 2000
BBC News Online
The violent protests in Prague are just one example of a
phenomenon that has dominated the political scene in Europe
in recent weeks: direct action.
Fuel protests by farmers and truckers have swept the
continent, forcing concessions from many European
governments.
Protesters argue that this is often the only way to make
their voices heard against 'out of touch' governments or
'unrepresentative' global institutions.
But is direct action - which often tramples on the rights of
innocent bystanders - justified.
Is it the only way in which the powerless can make their
voices heard in the era of big business and globalisation?
Is this the new democracy or does it risk damaging the rule
of law on which the fabric of our societies are built?
In our Europewide debate, Europe Today's Johannes Dell
brought together from Paris the French journalist Catherine
Guilyardi and in London the British political columnist Mary
Riddell.
This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments
below.
Your reaction:
John Stuart Mill said, "actions should reflect the greatest
number of people". However, the IMF/ World Bank has not and
never will represent "we the people". Need I remind people
that the IMF/ World Bank are non-elected officials engaging
in a Wall Street scam to line the pockets of the rich with
gold instead of wool. I champion people over profits and I
plan to continue protesting for a true democracy.
-- Anne Block, USA
What is so democratic about the World Bank/IMF both of which
are controlled by a handful of rich governments under the
one dollar one vote system? Did the people of Namada whose
livelihoods will be destroyed by the dam built with WB money
ever get a vote?
-- Kieran, Wales
There is nothing "new" about direct action. And calling it
"democratic" is relative.
-- Edward, UK
The people who undertake direct action have not been
democratically elected to speak on our behalf. They should
desist from unruly protests.
-- H. Bhadeshia, UK
Politicians complain all the time that people don't bother
to go out and vote any more. The reason is that people feel
voting doesn't change anything. And are they so wrong? All
the mainstream parties are in favour of the World Bank and
the IMF. The Czech police defend them as they once defended
Husak. Parliamentary politics is in the pocket of the big
corporations. Where do you expect the protest to go?
-- Tim Vanhoof, Germany
Peaceful protests used to be noticed. Now they are simply
ignored without comment or media coverage (until they turn
nasty). If we want peaceful protests to continue - we have
to start noticing them, otherwise Direct Action is the only
way to for protesters to get their message heard.
-- Mike, UK
"New democracy?" One well-publicised protest doesn't create
a "new" anything nor does it much threaten the rule of law -
the government has the guns after all and if they choose not
to engage the protestors then even violent protest does
little permanent damage. Of course the protestors are trying
to get headlines (and the attendant empty-headed commentary)
while the government must balance the value of liberty
against the profits of big business. I thought the
protestors were right in that fuel tax is much too high but
I certainly can't fault the UK government for their
restraint. It looks to me like this issue is a good example
of democracy working well.
-- Mickey Pallen, USA
Direct action is a consequence of the electorate feeling
that politicians do not listen to them through the normal
democratic channels and resorting to the only means left
available to them.
-- Gavin Pearson, USA
I disagree with such direct action. I wish the media would
not give these individuals a forum on which to display their
parochial views. Clearly, these individuals are out of the
mainstream. Their disenchantment with government should not
be the blame for the best system the world has known. Should
we return to the days of global separatism and the type
economic competition that causes war? Globalisation has its
problems. Give us a better system.
-- Reginald Cormier, USA
I took part in the demonstrations in Prague which much of
the world press has reported as out-of-control violence. Our
direct action was both confrontational and focused. We
blockaded an institution but ultimately wanted to hold our
own conference on the end of capitalism from inside the
conference centre. However (and not surprisingly) the police
sought to prevent us from speaking out for all of the
peoples throughout the world who are subject to economic
violence every day, which sometimes materialises in the form
of such violence facing Columbia and Central Africa. When
people throughout the world face social and humanitarian
destruction on the scale of today you have to take a stand
against the corporations and bodies that seek to exploit
this for financial gain. Even if this stand entails what the
media calls violence, it is justified.
-- Masked Direct Actioner, Praha
The protests we see are a manifestation of frustration with
a western political leadership which is ruled not by
citizens, but by money. In a time when our politicians are
bought and sold by multinational corporations, protest is
the only means by which an average person can be heard by
their leadership. My thanks to those in Prague and other
places who speak for all the people, not just the moneyed
aristocracy.
-- Dave Shamla, USA
I think that the IMF protests and oil crisis are symptomatic
of deeper problems with the current world political and
economic systems. As long as there are communities that feel
they are being exploited by the present system, there will
at best be an uneasy peace. I think that developed countries
are going to be increasingly challenged for taking a
disproportionate share of the profits from world trade. The
way forward is for large capital flows to move from
developed countries into infrastructure and human
development in developing countries.
-- Garth, Zimbabwe
I believe in law and order. There is never any justification
for violence, except for self-defence. Many people are
frustrated by what they see as non-representative
government. The best solution is to vote for people who are
not bought by special interests, whether these interests are
foreign or domestic. But patriotic candidates, honestly
concerned with their constituents' welfare, are very hard to
find.
-- Richard, USA
In the midst of great turbulence in the late 1960s in the
United States, Richard Nixon appealed to a "silent
majority." He believed that the vocal protestors were a
minority and that the majority were not supporting these
vocal demonstrations. He was correct and he won the 1968
election. I think that the same is true today. One should
not assume that these protestors speak for everyone and very
often their views are extreme.
-- Chris Cagle, USA
For more than six months now, the local media and government
have been preparing for the IMF conference in their own way.
A great deal of hand wringing over the certainty of violent
protests has flooded the various media priming the public
for bloodshed. The mayor himself catalogued the many
precautions he'd taken. Local leaders even sent
'informative' flyers to every address about how residents
shouldn't go to their doctors on those days and how best to
insure themselves and their property. Naturally, this has
become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The media and government,
in panicking beforehand about such violence, have truly
given the minority of protesters license to be violent.
-- James Simpson, Czech Republic
They are two different things. The anti-capitalist
campaigners in Prague are a misguided and minuscule
minority. However, the fuel-tax protestors represent the
majority view of the countries involved, who should be
listened to.
-- David Moran, Scotland
I think the recent rise in civil disobedience is a worrying
trend. We really don't want to have a situation similar to
the French. The recent fuel protests were an absolute
mockery of our democratic system. Peaceful protest will
always have a place in society, but infringing on the lives
of others is the point people shouldn't cross. The
Government needs to prevent this kind of disorder and clamp
down on the militant few.
-- Alex White, UK
Those who undertake direct action may be those who are truly
well informed and who see the massive upheaval that is
globalisation in which the average citizen is excluded from
the decision-making process. They are in some ways the
voices for the voiceless and the outward expression of what
many in society are feeling but have no outlet.
-- Pete D, Canada
Only in Europe, a region mired in socialism and the culture
of entitlement could someone suggest that the actions of a
lawless mob were democratic in nature. Where do you find
these people?
-- Phillip J. Hubbell, USA
I really find it strange that protesters in Prague are
trying to force questions on the agenda of the meeting which
have been discussed by the World Bank and the IMF during the
last few years. Furthermore, they don't seem to accept any
other point of view voiced at such forums. Violent protest
and rampage on the streets is not exactly a constructive way
of contributing to solving any problem. Protesters should
rather concentrate on offering a realistic alternative to
the World Bank and IMF policies they object to.
-- Nick, Bulgaria
Unfortunately television and print media offers little
insight into the real issues behind protests such as those
in Seattle, London and Prague. It seems that without
violence, or the threat of it, most people would be unaware
that this is going on. Fortunately forums such as this give
us the potential for public debate. Issues like pollution,
poverty and the undemocratic nature of corporate power are
far more important than a tax on petrol.
-- Neil, UK
The media does a wonderful job of advertising these protests
as riots. So is it any wonder that some rioters show up? It
only takes one person to throw a brick. The media should not
let this minority be portrayed as a majority. Most people
are scared of trouble. That includes those who are brave
enough to go to protests.
-- Duncan Drury, UK
If you want to see what happens when the government doesn't
listen to the people just look around the world, present and
past. You don't have to be a genius. You just need to lift
your head out of the sand and open your eyes!
-- Gary Dale, England
Considering government and corporations are basically in bed
with each other, direct action seems to remind both who are
really in power. Without the co-operation of the people,
neither government or corporation can maintain the status
quo, which puts so much money into their pockets.
-- Morgan O'Conner, USA
There are anarchists who would go to any protest just in
order to commit violent acts. Unfortunately the violence
gets more publicity and detracts attention from the peaceful
minority. Some violence is committed out of pure frustration
and I can understand why some people do this. Unless someone
has suffered through government action they will not
understand. Governments seem to be cut off from the people.
-- Peter Waters, Netherlands
Direct action can be the only recourse, when government and
big business get together to trample on the environment and
the oppressed. You certainly can't rely on corrupt spineless
politicians to support your cause.
-- Dylan Jackson, UK
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LAPD Homeless Sweeps Target Skid Row
<http://live.altavista.com/scripts/editorial.dll?ei=2292914&ern=y>
Los Angeles Times - 29 October 2000
by TWILA DECKER
Take a trip around a lot of Los Angeles' skid row these days and
there's something missing: the homeless.
A captain in the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Division
has decided to do something that for years simply was not done:
strictly enforce the laws.
During the last few weeks, Capt. Stuart Maislin's officers have been
ticketing the homeless for blocking the sidewalk and jaywalking.
Officers have also been rousing the homeless early in the morning,
asking for identification and taking those with outstanding warrants to
jail. They have been making more drug busts. In parts of skid row, entire
streets have been cleared.
Skid row is a 50-block area east of downtown bordered by 3rd and 7th
streets and Alameda and Main streets. The heart of skid row is 5th
Street, sometimes called "the nickel."
Maislin acknowledged that he had changed the policy in recent weeks
but said the new tactics were implemented because violent crime had
increased in the area. His strategy appears to be working, he said, with
violent crime down 2% in the last month in his district. The streets are
cleaner and business owners are happier.
But advocates for the homeless are outraged.
For decades, the homeless have lived, although contentiously, among
the toy, fish and produce companies that inhabit skid row.
Now, advocates complain that one man has taken it upon himself to
break a decades-old, albeit uneasy, truce, declaring war on the city's
homeless.
"The row has never looked like this," said Alice Callaghan, an
Episcopal priest and director of Las Familias del Pueblo, pointing to
vacant sidewalks on 5th Street. "They just plain and simply are running
everybody out of town."
That's all everyone is talking about at the missions and soup kitchens
around skid row, such as Hippie Kitchen and Gravy Joe's.
Some homeless people have as many as three citations stuffed in their
pockets.
"Normally, this wall would be filled with people," said Sharon
Dempsey, 48, leaning against the wall at Gravy Joe's.
She said some officers are telling people to go east of Alameda.
But, she said, that is too far from the missions, social service
agencies and portable toilets, which were put out for the homeless.
"To go all the way there, and then you have to come back here for the
missions--it's too hard to carry all your stuff," she said. "And if you
leave it, they take it."
Sharon Gibbs leaned on a shopping cart on Industrial Way. She moved
there, she said, after getting a ticket for blocking the sidewalk near
5th Street.
"It's ID, ID, ID," she said of the police who have stopped her several
times. "They are constantly stopping you."
Jerry, 50, who would not give his last name, said he had been awakened
twice in the last three days by officers asking for his identification.
"Anymore, you don't have to be doing something to be stopped by
police," he said. "You just have to be."
Another woman pulled out a ticket she had just gotten from a police
officer for "lying or sleeping on the sidewalk." She was afraid to have
her name published for fear of harassment.
Police came about 9 a.m. on Wednesday while she was sleeping on a mat
the size of a bath towel. She had two small bags beside her.
An officer "woke me up and told me to move," she said. "Then, he told
me he was going to have to ticket me. I wasn't blocking anything. A lot
of people have a lot more stuff than me."
11,000 People Live in Skid Row Area
These are the latest residents of a skid row that has been around
since the turn of the century, at first the destination of vagabonds who
rode the rails and checked into cheap hotels. "It's always been a working
man's neighborhood," Callaghan said. "It was the one place people could
find a place to sleep."
The area has about 11,000 living in hotels and on the street. In the
early days, it was primarily home to the down and out, many of them
alcoholics. It was not particularly violent. But that changed with the
onset of crack cocaine, and the arrival, beginning in the 1970s, of
thousands of mentally ill people who had no place to go after the closing
of many state hospitals.
To survive, businesses have hired private security guards and
installed sprinklers to keep vagrants away.
Some business owners have complained that it is unfair for them to be
saddled with the homeless when they would not be tolerated elsewhere.
"There is no reason in the world why the toy district merchants should
be expected to live with it," said Tracey Lovejoy of the Central City
East Assn.
"It is difficult to do business with people camping in front of your
business. It intimidates customers and your employees."
But advocates for the homeless, including Callaghan and Catherine
Morris, a Catholic volunteer who has worked on skid row since 1971, say
the homeless were on skid row first.
It is unconscionable, they contend, for business to come in, take
advantage of the low property values because of the homeless and then
turn around and try to chase the homeless away.
Leonard Schneiderman, professor emeritus in the School of Public
Policy at UCLA, said he empathizes with both arguments.
"You have to be sympathetic to the fact that there is a public
nuisance. You don't want to be harassed. There is a legitimate public
interest here," he said.
But he does not believe jailing the homeless, many of whom are
convicted felons, mentally ill or drug addicted, is the solution.
"The way we are approaching it, giving citations or locking them up,
is nonsense," he said.
"What we need is local officials making great demands on state
government to correct those who are in correctional institutions and
treat people who are mentally ill and substance abusers."
Until recently, the police tried to deal with the situation with a
heavy police presence and by insisting that the homeless pack up their
camps during the day.
But Maislin, who has been captain of the Central Division for two
years, said violent crime has been increasing. He said he was told by
Police Chief Bernard C. Parks recently to try to bring the rate down.
He said the most dangerous area is the 5th Street corridor.
"We have tried to do it by not arresting, by keeping officers on the
streets more," he said. "We are taking a different approach."
Maislin said getting violent criminals off the street helps everyone,
including the homeless.
"Essentially [violent criminals] tend to camouflage themselves among
the homeless, and that's also who they prey on," Maislin said. "We're
also trying to reduce the number of victims too."
Callaghan has been passing out fliers in recent days advising the
homeless of their rights, which she thinks are being violated in some
cases. She is considering having lawyers go to court to get a restraining
order against the police.
She said police are counting on the fact that many of the homeless who
are ticketed will not make it to court. That means warrants will be
issued for their arrests. Then, when police come back asking for their
identifications, they will be taken to jail.
She said what upsets her most is not the crackdown but that it seems
to be a decision made by police without consulting a variety of community
and political leaders and experts on the homeless.
"We would at least like to get the rest of the city into the
conversation," Callaghan said. "It shouldn't be just one captain who
decides on his own to move thousands of homeless."
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Ritalin becoming school yard hustlers' newest product
ALEXANDRA MARKS, Christian Science Monitor
NEW YORK (October 30, 2000)
In the bathroom of a suburban elementary school outside
Peterborough, Ontario, a 13- year-old boy offers to sell a
quick high to some 10- and 12-year olds. His drug of choice:
Ritalin, the prescription drug widely used to treat hyperactivity
in children.
In a small town outside Athens, Ga., 282 Ritalin pills suddenly disappear
from a medical cart kept in a locked closet of the middle school.
Outside Chicago, two teens report being regularly harassed and pressured
by classmates to hand over their daily dose of the drug. They've now
changed schools.
As use of the controversial stimulant skyrockets in the treatment of attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) - it has increased by as much as 700
percent since 1990 - so has its abuse.
In public schools and private universities across North America, Ritalin is
increasingly the drug of choice for thousands of young people, from 10-
year-old grade-schoolers dabbling with a first illicit high to graduate
students in need of an all-night push to finish a term paper.
The extent of the abuse varies widely from community to community, but the
growing recognition of the problem comes at the same time as a heated
debate in the scientific community over whether a child's use of the drug
works as a gateway to future substance abuse, or protects them from it.
Also known as methylphenidate, Ritalin is in the Drug Enforcement
Administration's (DEA's) Top 10 list of most often stolen prescription
drugs. It's widely available on college campuses, as well as in high school
cafeterias. Kids are popping, snorting, even dissolving and injecting Ritalin,
putting it in the same drug class as cocaine.
"Virtually every data source available confirms ... the widespread theft,
diversion, and abuse of Ritalin, and drugs like it, within public schools
throughout the country," says Rep. Henry Hyde (R) of Illinois. "It seems clear
from the data that children are using these drugs illicitly, and that this
use is
increasing."
The extent of the abuse varies widely. One national study found that only 3
percent of high schoolers reported illicit Ritalin use in the last year.
Another
found the number was as high as 7 percent.
At the same time, a DEA study of Wisconsin, South Carolina, and Indiana
found that about 30 to 50 percent of teens in drug-treatment centers said
they had used methylphenidate to get high, although not as their primary
drug of abuse.
As a result of the conflicting data, Hyde has called on the Government
Accounting Office to investigate the extent of the diversion and abuse. He's
also calling for legislation that would require states to have guidelines for
the handling of prescription drugs on school premises.
Lock those medicine cabinets
The DEA is currently putting together pamphlets that contain such
guidelines, along with educational materials about the drug. "Our concern
is that once that medication is given to children, it's actually taken by the
individual that it's prescribed for," says Gretchen Feussner, the DEA's
Ritalin expert. "And once it's in a school, it should be secured in a place
other than in a drawer or a teacher's desk."
In some schools, as many as 20 percent of the students take the
medication regularly during the school day. A 1996 survey by the DEA
found more methylphenidate is on hand in many of those schools, where it's
completely unregulated, than in the strictly controlled local pharmacy. Most
of those schools also don't have full-time nurses on hand to dispense the
medication.
That has helped make the drug more readily available to kids than some
illegal substances. And it's a key reason experts are particularly worried
about its abundance. Ritalin is interchangeable with amphetamine and
methamphetamine, and all of them produce much the same effect as
cocaine.
"Cocaine is shorter acting, so it has more of a punch: People tend to prefer
cocaine when they're sophisticated," says Dr. Peter Breggin, a leading
critic of the use of Ritalin. "But before they get to that stage, they'll use
Ritalin."
The National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) estimates that as many as 6
million American children suffer from ADHD. That's between 3 and 5
percent. If untreated, NIMH says the disorder can lead to serious problems
later in life.
In the largest clinical study of its kind, researchers concluded that Ritalin
can help 82 to 85 percent of the children who receive the drug. But other
studies have raised questions about its long-term impact on substance
abuse.
One family's story
In Newport Beach, Calif., Martha Fluor has first-hand experience with
Ritalin abuse. Her teenage son, who'd been diagnosed with ADHD and on
Ritalin since he was seven, suddenly started to lose weight and have
trouble sleeping.
It turns out he was taking his medication more than he should have. In fact,
he was grinding it up and snorting it to get high.
"He never had those symptoms when he was taking it as prescribed," says
Fluor, who's also a school board member at the Newport Mesa Unified
District.
Her son ultimately got into a host of illegal drugs as well. He ended up in
treatment. He's now in his early twenties, off all drugs, including Ritalin.
Fluor says that when he took the drug responsibly, it helped him. But she's
also concerned about what she suggests are the double messages
schools send on drug use.
"When you have a child that is taking a controlled substance legally, and in
the schools you have a zero-tolerance program, it's really hard for them
when you say, 'On the one hand, don't take any drugs, but on the other do
take drugs,' " she says. "It confuses them. "
Fluor believes that aggravated some self-esteem issues her son was
dealing with in adolescence. He wanted "to be normal" but didn't feel that
way because he was taking medication.
"We need to be hyper-vigilant about the legal drugs, educate kids about
them, and make sure that they're doing what they're intended to do," she
says. "They also need to be closely monitored."
Impact on illegal drugs
The Fluor family's story highlights a heated controversy under way in the
medical community about whether Ritalin hinders illegal substance abuse
or gives kids a taste for more mind-altering drugs.
A study at the University of California at Berkeley, which tracked 500
children for more than 25 years, found that use of methylphenidate and
other stimulants in the treatment of ADHD increases the likelihood that a
child in later life will take up smoking, cocaine, and other stimulants.
In testimony before a congressional subcommittee last spring, the study's
author, Dr. Nadine Lambert, said use of Ritalin as much as doubles the risk
of future substance abuse.
But a group of Harvard psychiatrists disputes that. They studied 500
children diagnosed with ADHD between the ages of 10 and 15 over four
years and found just the opposite.
They concluded that Ritalin helped calm kids and decreased antisocial
behavior. The kids in the study who did not take Ritalin ended up having
much higher rates of illegal substance abuse than their peers.
While that dispute rages in the scientific journal, parents still have to cope
with their children every day in an environment where both legal and illegal
drugs abound.
Advice to parents
If parents suspect their child might be abusing Ritalin or any other
prescription medicine or illegal drug, the DEA's Fuessner suggests having
a good long talk. "One of the worst things you can do is bury your head in
the sand, because the consequences can be very serious," she says.
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Study Finds Resurgence in Corporate Tax Avoidance
<http://www.ctj.org/itep/corp00pr.htm>
Thursday, October 19, 2000
Many of the country's biggest corporations are once again paying little or
nothing in federal income taxes, according to a study released today by the
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which collaborated on a number of
widely-publicized analyses of corporate taxes in the 1980s.
ITEP's new report examines the U.S. profits and federal income taxes of 250
of the nation's largest and most profitable corporations over the 1996-98
period. Although big corporations ostensibly are supposed to pay 35 percent
of their profits in taxes, the 250 companies in ITEP's survey paid only 20.1
percent in 1998. That was down from 22.9 percent in 1996, and far below the
26.5 percent that a similar group of large companies paid back in 1988, soon
after passage of the loophole-closing 1986 Tax Reform Act.
"With significant help from Congress, corporations appear to be finding ways
around the tax reforms adopted in 1986," said Robert S. McIntyre, a
principal author of both the new study and previous corporate tax studies in
the 1980s. "We hope our findings will encourage lawmakers to reexamine this
important area of taxation."
The study's central findings include:
Forty-one companies actually paid less than zero in federal income taxes in
at least one year from 1996 to 1998. In those tax-free years, the 41
companies reported a total of $25.8 billion in pretax U.S. profits. But
rather than paying $9 billion in federal income taxes at the 35 percent
rate, these companies enjoyed so many excess tax breaks that they received
$3.2 billion in rebate checks from the U.S. Treasury. Just one company,
Texaco, reported $3.4 billion in U.S. profits and $304 million in tax
rebates over the three years.
In 1998, twenty-four corporations got tax rebates. These 24
companies--almost one out of ten of the companies in the study--reported
U.S. profits before taxes in 1998 of $12.0 billion, yet received tax rebates
totaling $1.3 billion. The list of big-name companies getting tax rebates in
1998 included, among others, Texaco, Chevron, CSX, Pepsico, Pfizer, J.P.
Morgan, Goodyear, Enron, General Motors, Phillips Petroleum and Northrop
Grumman.
A hundred and thirty-three of the 250 companies paid effective tax rates of
less than half the 35 percent rate in at least one of the three years (and
many did it more than once). In the years that these 133 corporations paid
such low tax rates, they paid a mere 8.5 percent of their $209 billion in
U.S. profits in federal income taxes.
Over the 1996-98 period, petroleum was the lowest-taxed industry in America,
with an effective tax rate of only 12.3 percent. In 1998, the tax rate on
the 12 big oil companies in the study fell to only 5.7 percent. Only one
industry, publishing, paid an effective tax rate of more than 30 percent.
The Size of the Tax Breaks
Had all 250 companies paid the full 35 percent corporate tax rate on their
$735 billion in pretax U.S. profits from 1996 to 1998, their federal income
taxes would have totaled $257 billion. But instead, tax breaks for the 250
companies lowered their taxes by $26.9 billion in 1996, $31.8 billion in
1997 and $39.3 billion in 1998, for a total of $98 billion in tax savings
over the three years.
Almost half of those tax-break dollars went to just 25 companies, each
getting more than a billion dollars in tax breaks.
General Electric topped the list, with $6.9 billion in tax breaks over three
years.
How Companies Avoided Taxes
Companies used a variety of means to lower their federal income taxes,
including accelerated depreciation write-offs, tax credits for things like
research and oil drilling, and tax breaks for doing business in Puerto Rico.
GE continues to slash its tax bills every year through its leasing
activities, where it essentially buys tax breaks from companies that have
more than they can use.
One fast-growing tax break that had a very significant effect in lowering
taxes involved stock options. When stock options are exercised, corporations
can take a tax deduction for the difference between what employees pay for
the stock and what it's worth--even though in reporting profits to
shareholders, companies don't treat stock-option transactions as business
expenses. ITEP found that 233 of the 250 companies lowered their taxes from
stock options, by a total of $25.8 billion over the three years. Microsoft
led the pack with $2.7 billion in stock-option tax benefits--reflecting the
fact that stock option tax benefits are dependent on how much a company's
stock has gone up in value, and thus the tax savings were especially large
in high-tech industries whose market valuations zoomed during the three-year
period.
"The general public has a right to be concerned about how their taxes and
services are affected by this resurgence in corporate tax avoidance," said
McIntyre. "Companies that see their competitors paying much less in taxes
than they do have a legitimate beef, too. And anyone who worries about our
economy's long-term growth has to wonder why the tax code is being used to
favor some industries and some kinds of investments over others, rather than
letting market forces decide."
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Linked stories:
********************
New global role puts FBI in unsavory company
<http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/nation/A35401-2000Oct28.html>
With the FBI now addressing incidents and conducting investigations
around the world, U.S. federal agents are working alongside
international colleagues who engage in torture, coercion and
other forms of brutality. (10/30/00)
********************
Judge orders bookstore to turn over invoice
<http://www.dallasnews.com/national/201336_bookstore_28na.html>
Advocates of free speech and privacy are concerned by a judge's
order that a Denver bookstore surrender the record of the sale
of a book on manufacturing illegal drugs. (10/30/00)
********************
Editorial: Give Drug Czar More Authority
<http://www.jointogether.org/jtodirect.jtml?U=83952&O=264901>
An editorial from the Los Angles Times stated that the next
president of the United States needs to give the new
anti-drug czar enough authority to get the job done.
********************
======================================================
"Anarchy doesn't mean out of control. It means out of 'their' control."
-Jim Dodge
======================================================
"Communications without intelligence is noise;
intelligence without communications is irrelevant."
-Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
======================================================
"It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society."
-J. Krishnamurti
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