Just in case anyone needed yet another example of how corporate power is out of control, enter Boeing.
Boeing is a company that over the 3-year period from 2008 to 2010 paid an effective U.S. tax rate of…
…wait for it…
… -1.8% (yes, you read that right, NEGATIVE 1.8%!!!) on $9.7 billion in profit, the fifth worst offender in the U.S., a company born right here in Washington State, a state where, during the same period, we’ve had budget shortfalls of up to $5 billion, resulting in massive cuts to public education, health care, state parks, transportation infrastructure, etc., with more “grim” cuts being proposed this year, and yet a state where Boeing enjoys state tax breaks to such an extent that the World Trade Organization determined the breaks to be, along with the U.S. federal tax breaks they enjoy, illegal under international trade agreements.
If that weren’t bad enough, Boeing has announced that it plans on overhauling it’s 737 airliner, that they’ve begun the process of determining whether they’ll keep 737 production in Renton, WA, or move it to another state, thereby motivating Washington Governor Chris Gregoire to propose $9.8 million in spending in order to protect 20,000 jobs and $500 million in annual tax revenues.
Let’s recount that quickly, shall we?
-
October 27, 2011: The governor proposes $1.5 billion in cuts to health care, social services, prisons and education to help plug a $2 billion budget gap.
November 16, 2011: The governor proposes $9.8 million in extortion payments to keep Boeing from firing 20,000 people and taking the little they do pay in state taxes to another state.
Breathtaking, isn’t it?
Just another arrangement of the “too big to fail” tune that corporations have been singing for WAY too long.
