Rent take me or leave me glee We reserve the right to filter

Rent take me or leave me glee We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. Please note that comments are reviewed by the editorial staff and may not be posted immediately. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at I m not sure that Uncut is trying for populism. It seems to me that they are simply targeting the largest corporate tax dodgers and convince them that paying taxes is the proper behavior for a proper citizen. It s true that they need strength in numbers to do this, but to call the populist seems misleading. In fact, I would question the very validity of any movement claiming to be populist. With our society so individualized and seemingly fractured, I rent take me or leave me glee t think there is much chance of any group gaining popular appeal. Instead, it would probably be best for all workers to unionize and try to effect change to the system that way instead of populist movements. Though, I personally think that US Uncut is doing some really good work and the fun spirit of that video is inspiring. Click here to subscribe to the Daily Digest, to stay up to date with the latest at Pajamas Media. You will be sent an email asking you to verify your email address. If you have previously subscribed, no verification email will be sent. ThinkProgress filed this report from the Tea Party Patriots Policy Summit in Phoenix, AZ. Over the weekend, Americans all over the country staged demonstrations demanding that corporations pay their fair share in taxes. As ThinkProgress Zaid Jilani reported, many of America s largest and most profitable corporations, like ExxonMobil, CitiGroup Bank of America, have managed to avoid paying any corporate taxes for most quarters in recent years. As corporations pay out record bonuses and compile billions in untaxed profits, corrupt politicians are trying to force regular Americans to give up benefits and social programs to pay down the deficit. At the summit, ThinkProgress approached two conservative Republicans, Rep. Trent Franks R-AZ and Rep. Jeff Flake R-AZ, to talk about corporate tax dodgers as well as the burgeoning Main Street Movement /US-UnCut efforts US-UnCut is modeled after the UK group demanding British tax dodging corporations pay their fair share. Asked how he feels about large corporations skipping tax payments, Franks was at first incredulous, telling us that they do pay taxes but simply pass it along to consumers. Reminded that firms like Bank of America and CitiGroup have earned profits and avoided paying taxes, Franks finally responded sternly: Well, then they broke the law : FANG: A lot of liberals are hosting what CBS News has called you know a left-wing alternative to the Tea Party this weekend, demonstrations all over the country. And one of their key complaints is that corporations aren t paying their fair share. And they give examples like, in 2009, ExxonMobil, Bank of America, CitiGroup, GE, none of these rent take me or leave me glee paid a dime in corporate income taxes. Do you think it s fair for these corporations not to pay income taxes? But they re using offshore bank accounts as loopholes FRANKS: Those things can be addressed. But the bottom line is, corporate income taxes, they re taxes on the people, ultimately. FANG: But they re not paying any of these taxes. FRANKS: But what I m saying is to raise corporate taxes or increase corporate taxes, won t hurt the corporations, they ll just pass it along. FRANKS: And you re saying they didn t pay any taxes on the profit? FANG: Yes, in 200 We don t know about 20 Similarly, we asked Rep. Jeff Flake R-AZ if very profitable corporations like Bank of America, which paid nothing in corporate income taxes in 2009, were paying their fair share. Flake responded, people s definitions of fair share is different. Flake laughed in disbelief, and finally responded, I d have to look at your figures. see video above Many corporation have seized upon various loopholes to avoid paying taxes. Google, for instance, uses a variety of foreign subsidiaries as pass through corporations. In the case of CitiGroup, the IRS offered the company an exception to long-standing tax rules in 2009 because CitiGroup was still owned by taxpayer because of TARP. Even after CitiGroup sold its taxpayer-owned shares, it continued dodging corporate taxes. A GAO study found that CitiGroup maintains 427 subsidiaries in tax havens like Aruba and the Bahamas.