Why do I believe unlimited campaign donations are so damaging? One major reason is because the contributions of our major corporations buy them the ability to evade taxes. Don’t believe it? Here are the top 5 companies that paid ZERO taxes in 2013, listed in order of the profit they made in 2013. Next to the profit figure is the amount they contributed to various candidates in 2013, according to the Federal Elections Commission:
- Verizon Communications: Profits: $19.8 billion Total Spent: $1,425,490
- General Electric: Profits: $19.6 billion Total Spent: $2,829,453
- Boeing: Profits: $14.8 billion Total Spent: $2,001,970
- NextEra Energy: Profits: $8.8 billion Total Spent: $765,876
- American Electric Power: Profits: $8.2 billion Total Spent: $792,450
What does your common sense tell you? The amount they spent on campaign contributions surely made a difference in their ability to evade their taxes! I’m sure this is perfectly legal, and the companies made contributions to both Republicans and Democrats, so this is not a partisan issue. But is it right?
Do we have to just accept this? Is this one of those things we complain about but can’t do anything about? Yes we CAN do something, but it will be a long, hard battle. We can end this corporate welfare when we require Congress to pass the Clean Elections Amendment.
These abuses of the tax system will continue as long as we allow it. We can tinker around the edges or we can do major surgery and cut out the cancer infecting our nation. That cancer is the ability to garner special favors from lawmakers in return for campaign contributions. Take the money completely out of the equation, and justice, sanity and fairness will finally return to Washington.
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