Friday, February 15, 2019

Did you pay federal taxes? Amazon didn't. Kshama Sawant

Kshama Sawant<newsletter@socialistalternative.org>
To    
Al,
Congratulations to all the working people in New York City who defeated a $3 billion corporate handout to Amazon, showing that grassroots movements can win powerful victories against big business! Shoutout also to the Tax Amazon movement in Seattle, which despite the shameful betrayal of Democratic politicians in City Hall, showed that working people in cities across the country should get organized and build a united fightback!
Just today, it was also revealed that Amazon, the world’s fastest growing corporation led by the world’s richest billionaire CEO Jeff Bezos, didn’t pay a cent in federal taxes last year, just like it didn’t in 2017!  Amazon nearly doubled its profits to an eye-popping $11.2 billion last year, from $5.6 billion in 2017. It’s the second year in a row the corporation completely dodged the 21% tax rate corporations are supposed to pay (which is already outrageously low thanks to Trump’s corporate tax cuts). In fact, Amazon reported a federal income tax rebate of $129 million, meaning their 2018 tax rate was negative 1%. In other words, our taxes as working people subsidized Amazon’s billionaires.
That’s on top of the fact that, under the most regressive tax structure in the entire country, Amazon has been free from any Washington state income tax. In fact, before the HQ2 announcement, Amazon had already received a staggering $1.61 billion in subsidies from state and local governments to build its empire.
Nowhere is the failure and rottenness of neoliberal, “trickle down” economics more apparent than right here in Amazon’s home city, Seattle. The world’s two richest billionaires live here in King County, yet Seattle’s homeless population is one of the highest per capitain the nation. The crisis gets worse every year, despite the fact Seattle has been the national leader in the number of construction cranes three years running. Seattle now hasmore unsheltered people than New York City, a city 12 times our size, while at the same time, nearly one in ten apartments sit vacant.
Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos makes enough money every day to pay all the back rent owed by every Seattle resident who faced eviction in 2017!
We can’t have a genuine conversation about building the society working families need without talking about taxing corporations and the rich. But we know that big business will spend big to defend their corporate handouts, and try to defeat our movement and kick me out —a councilmember who can’t be bought. In fact, Amazon alone spend an unbelievable $350,000 in 2017 to buy their mayor, Jenny Durkan, who then led the shameful charge to repeal the Amazon Tax last year that would have funded hundreds of affordable homes every year.
Can you pitch in $15, $50, or $100 today to build our fight to Tax Amazon?
Over the last six years, I’ve seen firsthand the corrosive effects of corporate power and lobbyists in the back rooms of City Hall. Never had this been more clear than last summer, when 7 of the 9 councilmembers caved to the pressure of massive corporations like Amazon, who opposed even the most modest tax to help address the affordable housing and homelessness crisis. Jeff Bezos threatened 7,000 construction jobs to try to defeat the Amazon Tax, then applied intensive backroom pressure to force its repeal a month after it was unanimously passed by the City Council.
Last year’s Tax Amazon struggle showed how far Amazon and big business are prepared to go when their lavish profits are under threat. We need more, not fewer, working-class representatives who will stand up to corporate bullying, and boldly use their position to fight alongside movements to tax corporations and the rich, even if that means making powerful enemies among Seattle’s billionaire elites.
We need to Tax Amazon and big business for a massive expansion of social housing —tens of thousands of units of social housing to bring down sky-high rents and provide a public alternative to the broken private market. Taxing big business will also allow for a Green New Deal in Seattle — a green public works program which can create thousands of family-wage union jobs for workers, expand public transit and make it free at the point of use and fully electric, and make Seattle a real leader on climate by becoming 100% renewable by 2030. 

Please donate today to build our fight to Tax Amazon.

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Sign the petition re: Trump's national emergency James W. Garman

James W. Garman<moveon-help@list.moveon.org>
To  Alfred F Johnson  
Dear MoveOn member,
Mitch McConnell and Sara Huckabee Sanders have announced that Donald Trump is calling a national emergency to fund his racist, anti-immigrant wall, in addition to signing a bill to keep the government open. Congress has the opportunity to stop this national emergency from happening. 
Sign this petition telling Congress to stop this fake national emergency. Let's push back against this racist and anti-immigrant agenda.
This national emergency is a way to push forward bigoted policy that has no grounding in reality. There is no humanitarian crisis at the border. This is simply a political ploy to rile up folks against a perceived racist threat. Congress has to push back and make sure that this national emergency declaration does not take effect. 
Trump calling a national emergency order is an executive power grab, attempting to bypass any legislative oversight against Trump's anti-immigrant policy. Congress can pass a joint-resolution to try to stop this national emergency. Show your support and sign this petition saying that this trumped-up crisis cannot continue. 
Thanks!
—James W. Garman
You're receiving this petition because we thought it might interest you. It was created on MoveOn.org, where anyone can start their own online petitions. You can start your own petition here.
Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with MoveOn?
Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. This email was sent to Alfred Johnson on February 15, 2019. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
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Dear Coalition Member Liaisons, Please reply to this email with announcements of your group's March GVP-related events by February 20th. April events can be mentioned as well.

MA Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence<macopgv@gmail.com>
To  alfredjohnson34@comcast.net  
Dear Coalition Member Liaisons,

Please reply to this email with announcements of your group's March GVP-related events by February 20th. April events can be mentioned as well. 

This is an opportunity to broaden your audience through our monthly email communications, which go out to all of our 65+ member organizations and hundreds of individual Action Allies!  Events may also be posted on our website:
Check out upcoming events in February!  
Learn how we keep crime guns off our streets

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MA Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence
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Start a petition to the 116th United States Congress MoveOn Civic Action Pulin Modi

MoveOn Civic Action Pulin Modi<moveon-help@list.moveon.org>
To  Alfred F Johnson  
Dear Alfred,
Now that the new Congress is seated, it’s absolutely vital that they take swift action to legislate a bold progressive agenda, and we need your help to make that happen.
It's absolutely imperative that congressional Democrats move quickly to enact badly needed oversight over every arm of the Trump administration, take meaningful steps to protect those on the front lines of Trump's attacks, and begin proceedings to correct the catastrophic damage that has been inflicted on our government and our global reputation. This is not the time for grandstanding or equivocating. Democrats need to know that their grassroots army is watching ... and that we expect results.
MoveOn's petition tool is easy to use, with step-by-step instructions, sample templates, and prompts. You can even share your new petition over social media, which will help immediately inspire your friends and family. We're here if you have any questions during your campaign and will be among the first to congratulate you for a campaign victory!
We saw on November 6 that change is possible—and not only that, it's imperative. We can't stop now, Amonte. Be a part of this moment, and make sure your voice is heard in the halls of Congress this year. Start your MoveOn petition right now.
Thanks for all you do.
–Pulin, Tillie, Maria, Isbah, and the rest of the team
Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with MoveOn?
Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. This email was sent to Alfred Johnson on February 15, 2019. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
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