Times Record: BIW Tax Scam
To Peaceworks
BIW Tax Scam
Thanks to Gary Anderson for his informative and perceptive editorial, “Here We Go Again,” detailing the history of corporate welfare in the form of tax relief received by General Dynamics and BIW and paid for by the taxpayers of Maine. They are now requesting another sixty million dollars of tax breaks. As Mr. Anderson points out, the tax breaks for General Dynamics and other military industrial corporations are not a matter of competition or of securing the jobs for BIW workers. It is a matter of corporate greed — maximizing profits to enrich wealthy shareholders and corporate executives. The CEO of General Dynamics reportedly received twenty-one million dollars in personal compensation! As Mr. Anderson underscores in his essay, the unpaid tax bills of General Dynamics and BIW are paid by the hard working people of Maine.
The old scare tactics of possible lost jobs rings hollow, and the BIW public relations campaign is meant to manipulate public opinion. General Dynamics is rolling in dough, as the $9.4billion in stock buybacks indicates. The citizens of Maine need to be aware of the BIW tax scam and demand that our legislators safeguard our best interests as taxpayers.
We have just witnessed the passing of a tax bill in Washington that is the biggest tax scam ever perpetrated against the American people by those representing the greediest, wealthiest individuals and corporations in the country. It is a bill based on deceit, deals cut behind closed doors, with last minute loopholes scribbled into the margins. The middle class will see their deductions tightened and our taxes will go up, while the wealthiest among us and the most powerful corporations will receive huge deductions. As a result much needed social programs will be cut and millions of people will suffer hardships. General Dynamics will receive even more tax relief as a result of this bill, and they must accept their share of responsibility for the impending hardships. Once again they stand, with corporate hands extended, demanding more! As William Lazanick, an economist at UMass Lowell states, “We are being taken for fools.”
Bernard Bomba,
Bath
Bath
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