This is just more proof that our government is run by self-serving corrupt nincompoops...
It is time to vote every single one of them out and throw most of them is prison for corruption, treason
and malfeasance of office. 
From The Trading Report

A Who’s Who List of Who Isn’t Paying Income Tax – Sit Down Before Reading

By Michael Snyder (The Economic Collapse Blog | Original Link)

The federal income tax is a bad joke and it needs to be abolished. All over the nation, hard working American families are being absolutely crushed by oppressive levels of taxation, and our politicians are constantly coming up with new ways to extract money from all of us every single year. Meanwhile, many ultra-wealthy Americans and many of the most profitable corporations in the country pay little to nothing in taxes. In fact, as you will see below, there are dozens of very prominent corporations that make billions of dollars in profits and yet don’t pay a dime in taxes. Tax avoidance has become a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States. Those that have the resources to “play the game” use shell companies, offshore tax havens and the thousands of loopholes in our tax code to minimize their tax burdens as much as possible. Meanwhile, the rest of us get absolutely hammered. This is fundamentally unfair. The federal income tax system is irreversibly broken at this point, and it is time to abolish it. If you think that the federal income tax system can be “fixed”, then you probably have never studied it. Our tax code is nearly 4 million words long and it is absolutely riddled with thousands of loopholes that favor big corporations and the ultra-wealthy. We should come up with a better, fairer way to fund the government. The United States once prospered greatly without a federal income tax, and it could do so again.

Many people simply do not believe that it is possible for corporations inside the United States to make billions of dollars in profits each year and not pay a dime in income taxes.

Well, according to a report put out by Public Campaign, that is exactly what is happening. Posted below are numbers that come directly from their report. 30 large corporations are listed, and 29 of them had a tax burden for 2008 through 2010 that was less than zero even though they all made enormous profits. And all 30 of them spent more on lobbying than they did on taxes.
The numbers that you are about to see are for 2008, 2009 and 2010 combined. For “taxes paid”, please note that for 29 of the corporations a negative number is given. That means that the net tax liability for 2008 through 2010 was actually less than zero.
After seeing these numbers, is there anyone out there that is still willing to claim that our tax system is “fair”?…

General Electric
U.S. Profits: $10,460,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$4,737,000,000
PG&E Corp.
U.S. Profits: $4,855,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$1,027,000,000
Verizon Communications
U.S. Profits: $32,518,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$951,000,000
Wells Fargo
U.S. Profits: $49,370,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$681,000,000
American Electric Power
U.S. Profits: $5,899,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$545,000,000
Pepco Holdings
U.S. Profits: $882,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$508,000,000
Computer Sciences
U.S. Profits: $1,666,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$305,000,000
CenterPoint Energy
U.S. Profits: $1,931,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$284,000,000
NiSource
U.S. Profits: $1,385,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$227,000,000
Duke Energy
U.S. Profits: $5,475,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$216,000,000
Boeing
U.S. Profits: $9,735,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$178,000,000
NextEra Energy
U.S. Profits: $6,403,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$139,000,000
Consolidated Edison
U.S. Profits: $4,263,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$127,000,000
Paccar
U.S. Profits: $365,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$112,000,000
Integrys Energy Group
U.S. Profits: $818,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$92,000,000
Wisconsin Energy
U.S. Profits: $1,725,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$85,000,000
DuPont
U.S. Profits: $2,124,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$72,000,000
Baxter International
U.S. Profits: $926,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$66,000,000
Tenet Healthcare
U.S. Profits: $415,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$48,000,000
Ryder System
U.S. Profits: $627,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$46,000,000
El Paso
U.S. Profits: $4,105,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$41,000,000
Honeywell International
U.S. Profits: $4,903,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$34,000,000
CMS Energy
U.S. Profits: $1,292,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$29,000,000
Con-­way
U.S. Profits: $286,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$26,000,000
Navistar International
U.S. Profits: $896,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$18,000,000
DTE Energy
U.S. Profits: $2,551,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$17,000,000
Interpublic Group
U.S. Profits: $571,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$15,000,000
Mattel
U.S. Profits: $1,020,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$9,000,000
Corning
U.S. Profits: $1,977,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$4,000,000
FedEx
U.S. Profits: $4,247,000,000
Taxes Paid: $37,000,000 (a rate of less than 1%)
Total
U.S. Profits: $163,691,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$10,602,000,000

Just look at that combined total again.
Those 30 companies had combined profits of more than 163 billion dollars during those three years, and yet the combined net tax liability of those companies was negative 10.6 billion dollars.

I wish I could make my taxes look like that.

Another company that is making headlines because of their taxes these days is Facebook.

It turns out that Facebook made more than a billion dollars in 2012 but did not pay a single dime in federal or state income taxes.

The following is from a report that was just released by Citizens for Tax Justice…

Earlier this month, the Facebook Inc. released its first “10-K” annual financial report since going public last year. Hidden in the report’s footnotes is an amazing admission: despite $1.1 billion in U.S. profits in 2012, Facebook did not pay even a dime in federal and state income taxes.
Instead, Facebook says it will receive net tax refundstotaling $429 million.
 

According to Businessweek, Facebook has an additional 2 billion dollars in tax credits that it will be able to use in future years…

Facebook says that it anticipates reducing its tax liability in the future by an additional $2.17 billion by using further net operating loss carry-forwards that it has banked.

And of course when it comes to abusing the tax system, the big Wall Street banks are some of the worst offenders. The following is an excerpt from a report put out by the office of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders…
—–
Here are just a few examples of how the corporations and Wall Street banks these CEOs work for have significantly harmed our economy and the federal budget:
1. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan
Number of Offshore Tax Havens in 2010? 371.
In 2010, Bank of America operated 371 subsidiaries incorporated in offshore tax havens. 204 of these subsidiaries are incorporated in the Cayman Islands, which has a corporate tax rate of 0%.
Amount of federal income taxes Bank of America would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $2.5 billion.
Bank of America has stashed $18.5 billion in offshore tax havens to avoid paying U.S. income taxes. Bank of America would owe an estimated $2.5 billion in federal income taxes if its use of offshore tax avoidance was eliminated.
Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2010? Zero. $1.9 billion tax refund.
Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS in 2010, even though it made $4.4 billion in profits.
Taxpayer Bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department? Over $1.3 trillion.
During the financial crisis, Bank of America received a total of more than $1.3 trillion in virtually zero interest loans from the Federal Reserve and a $45 billion bailout from the Treasury Department.

2. JP Morgan Chase CEO James Dimon
Number of Offshore Tax Havens in 2010? 83.
In 2010, JP Morgan Chase operated 83 subsidiaries incorporated in offshore tax havens.
Amount of federal income taxes JP Morgan Chase would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $4.9 billion
JP Morgan Chase has stashed $21.8 billion in offshore tax haven countries to avoid payng income taxes. If this practice was outlawed, it would have paid $4.9 billion in federal income taxes.
Taxpayer Bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department? $416 billion
During the financial crisis, JP Morgan Chase received a total of more than $391 billion in virtually zero interest loans from the Federal Reserve and a $25 billion bailout from the Treasury Department, while Jamie DImon served as a director of the New York Federal Reserve.

3. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein
Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2008? Zero. $278 million tax refund.
In 2008, Goldman Sachs received a $278 million refund from the IRS, even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion that year.
Number of offshore tax havens in 2010? 39.
In 2010, Goldman Sachs operated 39 subsidiaries in offshore tax haven countries.
Amount of federal income taxes Goldman Sachs would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $3.32 billion.
Goldman Sachs has stashed $20.63 billion in offshore tax haven countries to avoid paying income taxes. If this practice was outlawed, it would have paid $3.32 billion in federal income taxes.
Taxpayer Bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department? $824 billion.
During the financial crisis, Goldman Sachs received a total of $814 billion in virtually zero interest loans from the Federal Reserve and a $10 billion bailout from the Treasury Department.
—–
Are you starting to get the picture?
The big banks and the big corporations make billions, but they pay nothing or next to nothing.
The rest of us bust our rear ends to try to get ahead, and we get gougedby dozens of different taxes.
Over time, the percentage of the overall tax burden shouldered by corporations has gotten smaller and smaller.
Back in 1950, corporate taxes accounted for about 30 percent of all federal revenue. In 2012, corporate taxes accounted for less than 7 percent of all federal revenue.

These days, large corporations have become absolute masters at avoiding taxes. In fact, there are many international tax havens that are doing a booming business in setting up sham headquarters for U.S. corporations. For example, the city of Zug, Switzerland only has a population of 26,000 people but it is the headquarters for 30,000 companies.
But corporations are not the only ones doing this kind of thing.

The ultra-wealthy have also mastered the art of legally not paying taxes.
As I mentioned in a previous article, it has been reported that the global elite have up to 32 TRILLION dollars stashed in offshore banks around the globe.

With that amount of money, you could pay off the entire U.S. national debt and still have enough money left over to buy every product and service produced in the United States during an entire year.

It is time to admit that our tax system is broken.

Congress has had decades to fix it, and yet the abuses just keep getting worse.
What we are doing is not working.

We need to abolish the income tax.

If you are still not convinced that the federal income tax is an abomination and that we need to abolish it, here are some more shocking facts about our tax system from one of my previous articles about taxes…
1 - The U.S. tax code is now 3.8 million words long. If you took all of William Shakespeare’s works and collected them together, the entire collection would only be about 900,000 words long.
2 - According to the National Taxpayers Union, U.S. taxpayers spendmore than 7.6 billion hours complying with federal tax requirements. Imagine what our society would look like if all that time was spent on more economically profitable activities.
3 - 75 years ago, the instructions for Form 1040 were two pages long. Today, they are 189 pages long.
4 - There have been 4,428 changes to the tax code over the last decade. It is incredibly costly to change tax software, tax manuals and tax instruction booklets for all of those changes.
5 - According to the National Taxpayers Union, the IRS currently has1,999 different publications, forms, and instruction sheets that you can download from the IRS website.
6 - Our tax system has become so complicated that it is almost impossible to file your taxes correctly. For example, back in 1998 Money Magazine had 46 different tax professionals complete a tax return for a hypothetical household. All 46 of them came up with a different result.
7 - In 2009, PC World had five of the most popular tax preparation software websites prepare a tax return for a hypothetical household. All five of them came up with a different result.
8 - The IRS spends $2.45 for every $100 that it collects in taxes.
9 - According to The Tax Foundation, the average American has to workuntil April 17th just to pay federal, state, and local taxes. Back in 1900, “Tax Freedom Day” came on January 22nd.
10 - When the U.S. government first implemented a personal income tax back in 1913, the vast majority of the population paid a rate of just 1 percent, and the highest marginal tax rate was just 7 percent.
11 - Residents of New Jersey pay $1.64 in taxes for every $1.00 of federal spending that they get back.
12 - The United States is the only nation on the planet that tries to tax citizens on what they earn in foreign countries.
13 - According to Forbes, the 400 highest earning Americans pay an average federal income tax rate of just 18 percent.
14 - Warren Buffett had an effective tax rate of just 17.4 percent for 2010.
15 - The top 20 percent of all income earners in the United States payapproximately 86 percent of all federal income taxes.
16 - Sadly, as Bill Whittle has shown, you could take every single penny that every American earns above $250,000 and it would only fund about 38 percent of the federal budget.

Please share this article with as many people as you can. We have now entered a time of the year when tens of millions of Americans will be filling out their tax returns, and the pain of going through that process will make people even more receptive than normal to the truth about how broken our system is.

So what do you think?

Do you think that it is fair for the ultra-wealthy and hugely profitable corporations to get away with paying zero taxes while you get hammered?

Do you believe that it is time to abolish the income tax?
  

Historic Court Case Against the BBC’s Cover Up of 9/11 Evidence

Historic Court Case Against the BBC’s Cover Up of 9/11 Evidence

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Jean

By Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth
Global Research, February 14, 2013
AE911Truth – UK Action Group

The BBC is being challenged strongly for its refusal to present to the British public the available scientific evidence which contradicts the official version of events of 9/11. Thank you very much to all those who have sent letters to their MPs asking that the BBC be held to account for withholding this evidence that the public must be allowed to see.
As a further progression of this campaign, a great opportunity has arisen. 9/11 truth documentary maker Tony Rooke has been granted a court hearing where he is challenging the BBC’s support of terrorist activity through supporting the cover up of the true evidence of 9/11. The court case will take place on February 25th at 10.00am at the address below. Real 9/11 evidence has rarely, if ever, been presented in a British court room, so this is a rare opportunity.Any support from the public on the day would be fantastic and will help to send the message that the people want to know, and deserve to know, the truth about 9/11.
Horsham Magistrates’ Court [Court 3]
The Law Courts
Hurst Road
Horsham
West Sussex
England
RH12 2ET
This court case is based around Tony making a stand and refusing to pay his TV licence fee under Section 15 of The Terrorism Act 2000 Article 3 which states that it is offence to provide funds if there is a reasonable cause to suspect that those funds may be used for the purposes of terrorism. The BBC has withheld scientific evidence which clearly demonstrates that the official version of events of 9/11 is not possible and could not have been carried out in entirety by those who have been accused by our officials. In addition, the BBC has actively blocked and smeared those attempting to bring this evidence to the public. By doing this the BBC are supporting a cover-up of the true events of 9/11 and are therefore supporting those terrorist elements who were involved in certain aspects of 9/11 who have not yet been identified and held to account. A new and independent investigation is required to determine what really did occur on 9/11, and by whom, otherwise these unidentified terrorist elements will remain free to potentially commit further terrorist activities.
Tony has been charged with a crime for not paying his TV licence fee, however, he has lodged a legal challenge to this charge and has now been successful in being granted an appearance in a Magistrate’s court where he has three hours available to present his evidence to defend himself against the charge. Tony has formed a formidable team to support him in presenting the evidence, including the following two outstanding individuals:
Professor Niels Harrit
Niels Harrit is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen and is one of the world’s leading experts on the scientific evidence which contradicts the official story of 9/11. Professor Harrit’s team of scientists proved that there was nano-thermite residue (high tech military explosive) all through the dust of all three towers and he got this study peer reviewed and published in an official scientific journal. He is also an expert on the other aspects of scientific evidence indicating controlled demolition of the three towers. He was involved in a major interview with the BBC in 2011 where the BBC clearly attempted to harass and discredit Professor Harrit rather than look at the devastating scientific evidence he had to offer. Professor Harrit’s team have video footage of this harassment and highly inappropriate conduct by the BBC both on camera and off camera as part of that interview.
Tony Farrell
Tony Farrell is a former Intelligence Analyst for South Yorkshire Police Department. In 2010 he was fired because he felt compelled by his conscience to tell the truth in his official report and state that due to his extensive analysis of 9/11 and the 7/7 London bombings, the greatest terrorist threat to the public did not come from Islamic extremists but from internal sources within the US and British establishment. He is now dedicating his life to helping to expose the truth and he is challenging his dismissal through international court. Tony Rooke has recently produced an excellent documentary called ‘Offensive – the story of Tony Farrell’ based around the story of Tony Farrell. Here is the link to that documentary:
OFFENSIVE – THE STORY OF TONY FARRELL – YouTube
In addition, here is the other documentary that Tony has recently produced called ‘Reasonable Cause’ which gives a good insight into the type of work that Tony has been engaged in and the type of information and evidence that he will be presenting at his court case:
Other members of Tony’s presentation team include:
Ian Henshall: Leading UK author on 9/11 and founder of the UK based group ‘Reinvestigate9/11′
Ray Savage: Former Counter Terrorism Officer who believes the official 9/11 story is not reasonable to believe
As well as these presenters there are detailed written testimonies of evidence and support from our four other 9/11 experts:
Richard Gage: CEO of ‘Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth’
Dwain Deets: Former NASA Director of Aerospace Projects
Erik Lawyer: Founder of ‘Fire Fighters for 9/11 Truth’
Jake Jacobs: Veteran US airline pilot & member of ‘Pilots for 9/11 Truth’
If you happen to be in the UK or reside there, please consider attending this historic court case to support Tony in this rare opportunity to have some of the true facts of 9/11 presented in a court of law and to have the BBC held to account for their support of the cover up of the true scientific evidence of 9/11.
For our friends in the USA, you ALSO have laws prohibiting the funding of terrorism – namely:
18 USC § 2339C – Prohibitions against the financing of terrorism
(a) Offenses.—
(1) In general.— Whoever, in a circumstance described in subsection (b), by any means, directly or indirectly, unlawfully and willfully provides or collects funds with the intention that such funds be used, or with the knowledge that such funds are to be used, in full or in part, in order to carry out—
(A) an act which constitutes an offense within the scope of a treaty specified in subsection (e)(7), as implemented by the United States, or
(B) any other act intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to a civilian, or to any other person not taking an active part in the hostilities in a situation of armed conflict, when the purpose of such act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or to compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act,shall be punished as prescribed in subsection (d)(1).
Many thanks
AE911Truth -UK Action Group – on behalf of Tony Rooke
http://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/historic-court-case-against-the-bbcs-cover-up-of-911-evidence/

Charleston Voice: BARRY THE DOPE DEALER, is Why His School Files are Sealed

permission granted for re-posting…CV

http://chasvoice.blogspot.com/2012/08/barry-dope-dealer-is-why-his-school.html

Western vicious agenda fails in Malaysia, Russia

PressTV: Western vicious agenda fails in Malaysia, Russia

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Jean

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon is facing deportation from Malaysia after being refused entry.
Sun Feb 17, 2013 7:33PM GMT
By Tony Cartalucci
Russia has set the precedent, Malaysia is following suit and lending Russia’s decision much needed legitimacy in the face of a still Western-monopolized global media landscape. Other nations must follow, dropping the pretense that the West is somehow “exceptional,” and that there are somehow no conceivably, justifiable circumstances that could see an Australian senator detained and deported. Indeed, Xenophon has exceeded his mandate and responsibilities to represent the interests of the Australian people, breached Malaysia’s sovereignty, while misappropriating both Australia’s time and resources as he meddles in the sovereign affairs of a foreign nation.”
The Australian reported in its article, “Xenophon deported by Malaysia,” that Australian Senator Nick Xenophon has been detained and then deported in Malaysia as part of an “unofficial parliamentary delegation to review the electoral system.”
In reality, Senator Xenophon was part of a Western effort to assist Malaysia’s Wall Street-London backed opposition into power as part of a wider geopolitical strategy to align Southeast Asia against China’s emerging regional influence.
Confirming this, the Australian also reported that:
“He and other Australian MPs were to meet opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, as well as Malaysia’s minister in charge of parliamentary affairs, Mohammed Nazri, and members of the group Bersih, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections.”
Bersih of course, is admittedly funded by the US State Department through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) as well as convicted criminal George Soros’ Open Society. According to a Malaysian Insider report on June 27, 2011, Bersih figurehead Ambiga Sreenevassan herself “admitted to Bersih receiving some money from two US organisations – the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Open Society Institute (OSI) – for other projects, which she stressed were unrelated to the July 9 [2011] march.”
Xenophon’s planned meeting with Anwar Ibrahim, who with Western-backing has in fact created Bersih to propel himself into power, is also indicative of Australia’s insidious meddling in Malaysia’s sovereign, internal affairs.
Anwar Ibrahim was Chairman of the Development Committee of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1998, held lecturing positions at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, was a consultant to the World Bank, and a panelist at the Neo-Con lined National Endowment for Democracy’s “Democracy Award” and a panelist at a NED donation ceremony – the very same US organization whose subsidiaries are funding and supporting Bersih – casts irrefutable doubt on their official agenda for “clean and fair elections.” Claims by Bersih members that Anwar Ibrahim is “hijacking” their movement ring especially hollow when looking at both his and Bersih’s entwined foreign financial and political backers.
Two Years of Western-Engineered Chaos in Arab World Justifies Malaysia’s Decision.
Clearly Senator Xenophon’s visit to Malaysia was not one ofar that the terrorism and despotism now unfolding across the Arab World is not an unintended consequence, but a long premeditated conspiracy unfolding as planned. Simles – making the Malaysian government’s claims that Xenophon constitutes a security risk absolutely justified. The last two years of Western “democracy promotion” in places like Egypt, Libya, and Syria, have left devastation, rising despots, and extremists in its wake and has justified similar moves made earlier this year by Russia who has begun purging itself of the same meddlesome, disingenuous “NGOs” that are backing Bersih and Awar Ibrahim in Malaysia.
From the West’s “human rights” observers, to the United Nations itself, all have been demonstrably abused to pursue the agenda of Western corporate-financier interests, many times both causing and compounding the alleged abuses they set out to “stop” in the first place.
With articles like “The Redireciton” by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker, and the Wall Street Journal’s “To Check Syria, U.S. Explores Bond With Muslim Brothers” as far back as 2007 revealing that the West was planning to put armed extremists in power across the Arab World, it is clear that the terrorism and despotism now unfolding across the Arab World is not an unintended consequence, but a long premeditated conspiracy unfolding as planned. Similar plans to use faux-democracy movements and even violence in Southeast Asia to serve as cover for Western instigated regime change has also been well documented in Malaysia as well as Myanmar and neighboring Thailand. Plans to use Southeast Asia against China have been documented as far back as the late 1990′s.
Russia has set the precedent, Malaysia is following suit and lending Russia’s decision much needed legitimacy in the face of a still Western-monopolized global media landscape. Other nations must follow, dropping the pretense that the West is somehow “exceptional,” and that there are somehow no conceivably, justifiable circumstances that could see an Australian senator detained and deported. Indeed, Xenophon has exceeded his mandate and responsibilities to represent the interests of the Australian people, breached Malaysia’s sovereignty, while misappropriating both Australia’s time and resources as he meddles in the sovereign affairs of a foreign nation.
The “democracy” and “human rights’ racket the West has used to cover up what is indeed neo-imperialism is crumbling, not least because of its stalwart, stubborn support for what are now clearly Al Qaeda terrorists mass murdering civilians in Libya and Syria. When these are “freedom fighters” promoting “democracy,” what does that make Bersih and Anwar Ibrahim when they are taking cash and support from the same interests that are propping up Al Qaeda abroad? What does that make Senator Nick Xenophon for using Australia’s reputation and resources to aid and abet such people?
TC/JR
https://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/presstv-western-vicious-agenda-fails-in-malaysia-russia/

Hagel Halted: US Congress blocks nomination of Israel critic

RT: Hagel Halted: US Congress blocks nomination of Israel critic

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Jean

Published on Feb 16, 2013

Republican Senators have blocked the vote to confirm Chuck Hagel as U.S. Secretary of Defence, he is the first such Presidential nominee for Pentagon chief this has happened to. Paul Craig Roberts, a Reagan administration official, joins RT studio from Florida to discuss the confirmation hearings.

http://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/rt-hagel-halted-us-congress-blocks-nomination-of-israel-critic/

DOCUMENTARY re. Iraq War (10 year anniversary 2.23.13)

DOCUMENTARY re. Iraq War (10 year anniversary 2.23.13)

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/19/watch-hubris-documentary/

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/16/how-the-bush-administration-sold-the-iraq-war/

Dwell in possibility.  ~ Emily Dickinson

While The Middle Class Gets Hammered

http://blacklistednews.com/?news_id=24316&print=1

Abolish The Income Tax!

You Won't Believe Who Is Getting Away With Paying Zero Taxes 

While The Middle Class Gets Hammered

February 19, 2013

Source: Michael Snyder, Guest Post

The federal income tax is a bad joke and it needs to be abolished.  All over the nation, hard working American families are being absolutely crushed by oppressive levels of taxation, and our politicians are constantly coming up with new ways to extract money from all of us every single year.  Meanwhile, many ultra-wealthy Americans and many of the most profitable corporations in the country pay little to nothing in taxes.  In fact, as you will see below, there are dozens of very prominent corporations that make billions of dollars in profits and yet don’t pay a dime in taxes.  
Tax avoidance has become a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States.  Those that have the resources to “play the game” use shell companies, offshore tax havens and the thousands of loopholes in our tax code to minimize their tax burdens as much as possible.  Meanwhile, the rest of us get absolutely hammered.  This is fundamentally unfair.  The federal income tax system is irreversibly broken at this point, and it is time to abolish it.  If you think that the federal income tax system can be “fixed”, then you probably have never studied it.  Our tax code is nearly 4 million words long and it is absolutely riddled with thousands of loopholes that favor big corporations and the ultra-wealthy.  We should come up with a better, fairer way to fund the government.  The United States once prospered greatly without a federal income tax, and it could do so again. (NOTE: There is NO requirement for ANY American to pay this illegal 'tax'.)
Many people simply do not believe that it is possible for corporations inside the United States to make billions of dollars in profits each year and not pay a dime in income taxes.
Well, according to a report put out by Public Campaign, that is exactly what is happening.  Posted below are numbers that come directly from their report.  30 large corporations are listed, and 29 of them had a tax burden for 2008 through 2010 that was less than zero even though they all made enormous profits.  And all 30 of them spent more on lobbying than they did on taxes.
The numbers that you are about to see are for 2008, 2009 and 2010 combined.  For “taxes paid”, please note that for 29 of the corporations a negative number is given.  That means that the net tax liability for 2008 through 2010 was actually less than zero.
After seeing these numbers, is there anyone out there that is still willing to claim that our tax system is “fair”?…
General Electric
U.S. Profits: $10,460,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$4,737,000,000
PG&E Corp.
U.S. Profits: $4,855,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$1,027,000,000
Verizon Communications
U.S. Profits: $32,518,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$951,000,000
Wells Fargo
U.S. Profits: $49,370,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$681,000,000
American Electric Power
U.S. Profits: $5,899,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$545,000,000
Pepco Holdings
U.S. Profits: $882,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$508,000,000
Computer Sciences
U.S. Profits: $1,666,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$305,000,000
CenterPoint Energy
U.S. Profits: $1,931,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$284,000,000
NiSource
U.S. Profits: $1,385,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$227,000,000
Duke Energy
U.S. Profits: $5,475,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$216,000,000
Boeing
U.S. Profits: $9,735,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$178,000,000
NextEra Energy
U.S. Profits: $6,403,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$139,000,000
Consolidated Edison
U.S. Profits: $4,263,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$127,000,000
Paccar
U.S. Profits: $365,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$112,000,000
Integrys Energy Group
U.S. Profits: $818,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$92,000,000
Wisconsin Energy
U.S. Profits: $1,725,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$85,000,000
DuPont
U.S. Profits: $2,124,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$72,000,000
Baxter International
U.S. Profits: $926,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$66,000,000
Tenet Healthcare
U.S. Profits: $415,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$48,000,000
Ryder System
U.S. Profits: $627,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$46,000,000
El Paso
U.S. Profits: $4,105,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$41,000,000
Honeywell International
U.S. Profits: $4,903,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$34,000,000
CMS Energy
U.S. Profits: $1,292,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$29,000,000
Con-­way
U.S. Profits: $286,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$26,000,000
Navistar International
U.S. Profits: $896,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$18,000,000
DTE Energy
U.S. Profits: $2,551,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$17,000,000
Interpublic Group
U.S. Profits: $571,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$15,000,000
Mattel
U.S. Profits: $1,020,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$9,000,000
Corning
U.S. Profits: $1,977,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$4,000,000
FedEx
U.S. Profits: $4,247,000,000
Taxes Paid: $37,000,000 (a rate of less than 1%)
Total
U.S. Profits: $163,691,000,000
Taxes Paid: ‐$10,602,000,000
Just look at that combined total again.
Those 30 companies had combined profits of more than 163 billion dollars during those three years, and yet the combined net tax liability of those companies was negative 10.6 billion dollars.
I wish I could make my taxes look like that.
Another company that is making headlines because of their taxes these days is Facebook.
It turns out that Facebook made more than a billion dollars in 2012 but did not pay a single dime in federal or state income taxes.  The following is from a report that was just released by Citizens for Tax Justice…
Earlier this month, the Facebook Inc. released its first “10-K” annual financial report since going public last year. Hidden in the report’s footnotes is an amazing admission: despite $1.1 billion in U.S. profits in 2012, Facebook did not pay even a dime in federal and state income taxes.
Instead, Facebook says it will receive net tax refundstotaling $429 million.
According to Businessweek, Facebook has an additional 2 billion dollars in tax credits that it will be able to use in future years…
Facebook says that it anticipates reducing its tax liability in the future by an additional $2.17 billion by using further net operating loss carry-forwards that it has banked.
And of course when it comes to abusing the tax system, the big Wall Street banks are some of the worst offenders.  The following is an excerpt from a report put out by the office of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders…
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Here are just a few examples of how the corporations and Wall Street banks these CEOs work for have significantly harmed our economy and the federal budget:
1. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan
Number of Offshore Tax Havens in 2010? 371.
In 2010, Bank of America operated 371 subsidiaries incorporated in offshore tax havens. 204 of these subsidiaries are incorporated in the Cayman Islands, which has a corporate tax rate of 0%.
Amount of federal income taxes Bank of America would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $2.5 billion.
Bank of America has stashed $18.5 billion in offshore tax havens to avoid paying U.S. income taxes. Bank of America would owe an estimated $2.5 billion in federal income taxes if its use of offshore tax avoidance was eliminated.
Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2010? Zero. $1.9 billion tax refund.
Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS in 2010, even though it made $4.4 billion in profits.
Taxpayer Bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department? Over $1.3 trillion.
During the financial crisis, Bank of America received a total of more than $1.3 trillion in virtually zero interest loans from the Federal Reserve and a $45 billion bailout from the Treasury Department.
2. JP Morgan Chase CEO James Dimon
Number of Offshore Tax Havens in 2010? 83.
In 2010, JP Morgan Chase operated 83 subsidiaries incorporated in offshore tax havens.
Amount of federal income taxes JP Morgan Chase would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $4.9 billion
JP Morgan Chase has stashed $21.8 billion in offshore tax haven countries to avoid payng income taxes. If this practice was outlawed, it would have paid $4.9 billion in federal income taxes.
Taxpayer Bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department? $416 billion
During the financial crisis, JP Morgan Chase received a total of more than $391 billion in virtually zero interest loans from the Federal Reserve and a $25 billion bailout from the Treasury Department, while Jamie DImon served as a director of the New York Federal Reserve.
3. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein
Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2008? Zero. $278 million tax refund.
In 2008, Goldman Sachs received a $278 million refund from the IRS, even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion that year.
Number of offshore tax havens in 2010? 39.
In 2010, Goldman Sachs operated 39 subsidiaries in offshore tax haven countries.
Amount of federal income taxes Goldman Sachs would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $3.32 billion.
Goldman Sachs has stashed $20.63 billion in offshore tax haven countries to avoid paying income taxes. If this practice was outlawed, it would have paid $3.32 billion in federal income taxes.
Taxpayer Bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department? $824 billion.
During the financial crisis, Goldman Sachs received a total of $814 billion in virtually zero interest loans from the Federal Reserve and a $10 billion bailout from the Treasury Department.
—–
Are you starting to get the picture?
The big banks and the big corporations make billions, but they pay nothing or next to nothing.
The rest of us bust our rear ends to try to get ahead, and we get gougedby dozens of different taxes.
Over time, the percentage of the overall tax burden shouldered by corporations has gotten smaller and smaller.
Back in 1950, corporate taxes accounted for about 30 percent of all federal revenue.  In 2012, corporate taxes accounted for less than 7 percent of all federal revenue.
These days, large corporations have become absolute masters at avoiding taxes.  In fact, there are many international tax havens that are doing a booming business in setting up sham headquarters for U.S. corporations.  For example, the city of Zug, Switzerland only has a population of 26,000 people but it is the headquarters for 30,000 companies.
But corporations are not the only ones doing this kind of thing.
The ultra-wealthy have also mastered the art of legally not paying taxes.
As I mentioned in a previous article, it has been reported that the global elite have up to 32 TRILLION dollars stashed in offshore banks around the globe.
With that amount of money, you could pay off the entire U.S. national debt and still have enough money left over to buy every product and service produced in the United States during an entire year.
It is time to admit that our tax system is broken.
Congress has had decades to fix it, and yet the abuses just keep getting worse.
What we are doing is not working.
We need to abolish the income tax.
If you are still not convinced that the federal income tax is an abomination and that we need to abolish it, here are some more shocking facts about our tax system from one of my previous articles about taxes…
1 – The U.S. tax code is now 3.8 million words long.  If you took all of William Shakespeare’s works and collected them together, the entire collection would only be about 900,000 words long.
2 – According to the National Taxpayers Union, U.S. taxpayers spendmore than 7.6 billion hours complying with federal tax requirements.  Imagine what our society would look like if all that time was spent on more economically profitable activities.
3 – 75 years ago, the instructions for Form 1040 were two pages long.  Today, they are 189 pages long.
4 – There have been 4,428 changes to the tax code over the last decade.  It is incredibly costly to change tax software, tax manuals and tax instruction booklets for all of those changes.
5 – According to the National Taxpayers Union, the IRS currently has1,999 different publications, forms, and instruction sheets that you can download from the IRS website.
6 – Our tax system has become so complicated that it is almost impossible to file your taxes correctly.  For example, back in 1998 Money Magazine had 46 different tax professionals complete a tax return for a hypothetical household.  All 46 of them came up with a different result.
7 – In 2009, PC World had five of the most popular tax preparation software websites prepare a tax return for a hypothetical household.  All five of them came up with a different result.
8 – The IRS spends $2.45 for every $100 that it collects in taxes.
9 – According to The Tax Foundation, the average American has to workuntil April 17th just to pay federal, state, and local taxes.  Back in 1900, “Tax Freedom Day” came on January 22nd.
10 – When the U.S. government first implemented a personal income tax back in 1913, the vast majority of the population paid a rate of just 1 percent, and the highest marginal tax rate was just 7 percent.
11 – Residents of New Jersey pay $1.64 in taxes for every $1.00 of federal spending that they get back.
12 – The United States is the only nation on the planet that tries to tax citizens on what they earn in foreign countries.
13 – According to Forbes, the 400 highest earning Americans pay an average federal income tax rate of just 18 percent.
14 – Warren Buffett had an effective tax rate of just 17.4 percent for 2010.
15 – The top 20 percent of all income earners in the United States payapproximately 86 percent of all federal income taxes.
16 – Sadly, as Bill Whittle has shown, you could take every single penny that every American earns above $250,000 and it would only fund about 38 percent of the federal budget.
Please share this article with as many people as you can.  We have now entered a time of the year when tens of millions of Americans will be filling out their tax returns, and the pain of going through that process will make people even more receptive than normal to the truth about how broken our system is.
So what do you think?
Do you think that it is fair for the ultra-wealthy and hugely profitable corporations to get away with paying zero taxes while you get hammered?
Do you believe that it is time to abolish the income tax?
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· MAIN · DEMOCRAT · REPUBLICAN · INDEPENDENT · ELECTIONS 2012 Pressure on Governor Cuomo grows as more counties oppose NY SAFE Act

·         MAIN ·         DEMOCRAT ·         REPUBLICAN ·         INDEPENDENT ·         ELECTIONS 2012 Pressure on Governor Cuomo grows as more counties oppose NY SAFE Act ·         GUN CONTROL ·         FEBRUARY 13, 2013 ·         BY: JOSEPH GILBERT ·         Subscribe 5 NY counties pass resolutions to oppose NY SAFE gun control act, more pending Credits:  Kellie Greene 6Email Independent newsletter [Sign up] RELATED TOPICS ·         Gun control ·         NY SAFE Act ·         governor cuomo ·         2nd Amendment ·         right to bear arms New York passed the strictest gun control law in the country on Jan 15th. Called the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013, or SAFE Act, it was voted on in the NY Senate and Assembly late at night and the legislators had little time to examine the bill. The list of counties, sheriffs and municipalities across the state that oppose the law continues to grow. To date, six counties, Ulster, Lewis, Warren, Washington, Madison and Oswego, legislators have passed resolutions calling for the repeal of the law. Resolutions have been introduced and are pending in Jefferson, Erie and Ontario counties. NY SAFE Act debated in NY Senate © 2013 Microsoft CorporationPictometry Bird's Eye © 2012 MDA Geospatial Services Inc. Location: ogdensburg, ny 44.693840026855 ; -75.489601135254 Today, the City Council of Ogdensburg passed a resolution to be sent to Governor Cuomo with a message on the SAFE Act, "get rid of it." The city's resolution passed with a unanimous 6-0 vote. Mayor Bill Nelson, Deputy Mayor and sponsor Michael D. Morley and councilors Daniel E. Skamperle, William D. Hosmer, Wayne L. Ashley and R. Storm Cilley all voted in favor of overturning. Councilor Jennifer Stevenson was absent. “A resolution protesting the passage and enforcement of the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act (SAFE ACT) because it is an infringement on the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the States" read the resolution's summary statement (http://bit.ly/VVGKzo). Ogdensburg Mayor Nelson called how the bill was passed in Albany "government at its worst." A resolution is expected to be introduced into the St. Lawrence County Board of Legislators next week. This resolution is also expected to call on the Governor to overturn the SAFE Act. Sheriffs in Schuyler, Warren, Saratoga, Lewis and Schuyler counties have all made public statements in opposition to the strict gun control law. A 2nd Amendment rally is planned in Albany on Feb. 28th to protest the law, sponsored in part by the National Rifle Association. More than 100 opponents to the law participated in a protest at the Ogdensburg AMVETS Post 19 as a fund raiser for the march in Albany. If you like with this article, please forward it to family and friends. Please click on the "SUBSCRIBE" button above to receive e-mail updates whenever new articles are published. Suggested by the author: ·         Lewis County joins growing ranks in opposition to NY SAFE Act ·         Statewide opposition grows against Governor Cuomo's gun control law ·         Ulster County passes resolution to oppose Cuomo's SAFE Act ·         2nd Amendment rally announced in Albany ·         Obama's Lexington and Concord