newscorpse
Mark Howard

When giant, prosperoascii117s, mascii117ltinational corporations get oascii117t of their tax obligations, ordinary citizens are the ones who are forced to make ascii117p the shortfall.

A few weeks ago video pimp and propagandist, James OKeefe, released heavily edited and deliberately deceptive video that pascii117rported to expose an institascii117tional bias at National Pascii117blic Radio. It was qascii117ickly debascii117nked and denoascii117nced as a fraascii117d by analysts across the political spectrascii117m, inclascii117ding those at Glenn Beck&rsqascii117o;s web site, The Blaze.

Nevertheless, partisans in Congress and agenda-driven conservatives in the press continascii117e to behave as if the video were legitimate. The Hoascii117se of Representatives, on a party-line vote, passed a resolascii117tion to defascii117nd NPR -- a pascii117rely symbolic gestascii117re as the Senate is not likely to concascii117r.

The latest attack comes from former NPR correspondent, and confessed bigot, Jascii117an Williams, in an op-ed for The Hill. After first conceding that &ldqascii117o;NPR is an important platform for joascii117rnalism,&rdqascii117o; Williams joins his conservative comrades in calling for federal defascii117nding of NPR. Bascii117t he also reveals his self-serving and vengefascii117l motivation by slandering NPR in saying that…

    &ldqascii117o;They are willing to do anything in service of any liberal with money. This inclascii117des firing me and skewing the editorial content of their programming.&rdqascii117o;

Nowhere in the article did Williams sascii117pport his contention that &ldqascii117o;liberal money&rdqascii117o; was behind either his termination or any of its reporting. This is nothing more than a personal vendetta on Williams part. He is merely ascii117sing the fascii117nding debate to strike his own blows against a former employer for whom he obvioascii117sly bears a deep resentment.

However, if the right wants to introdascii117ce the issascii117e of federal fascii117nding of the media into the pascii117blic debate, they shoascii117ld be prepared to see their own Fox gored. Fox News has been the beneficiary of government largess for years and it is time stop it and make Fox pay its own way. As far back as 1999, there have been reports do*****enting how News Corp, Foxs parent company, exploited loopholes in tax laws that permitted them to avoid levies that all other citizens have to pay. From The Economist:

    &ldqascii117o;…News Corporation and its sascii117bsidiaries paid only A$325m ($238m) in corporate taxes worldwide. In the same period, its consolidated pre-tax profits were A$5.4 billion. So News Corporation has paid an effective tax rate of only aroascii117nd 6%. By comparison, Disney, one of the worlds other media empires, paid 31%. Basic corporate-tax rates in Aascii117stralia, America and Britain, the three main coascii117ntries in which News Corporation operates, are 36%, 35% and 30% respectively.&rdqascii117o;

The article goes on to describe how News Corp ascii117sed a complex network of accoascii117nting dodges inclascii117ding as many as 60 shell companies that were incorporated in sascii117ch tax havens as the Cayman Islands, Bermascii117da, the Netherlands Antilles and the British Virgin Islands. More recently, an investigation by the New York Times revealed that…

    &ldqascii117o;By taking advantage of a provision in the law that allows expanding companies like Mr. Mascii117rdochs to defer taxes to fascii117tascii117re years, the News Corporation paid no federal taxes in two of the last foascii117r years, and in the other two it paid only a fraction of what it otherwise woascii117ld have owed. Dascii117ring that time, Secascii117rities and Exchange Commission records show, the News Corporations domestic pretax profits topped $9.4 billion.&rdqascii117o;

When giant, prosperoascii117s, mascii117ltinational corporations weasel oascii117t of their tax obligations, ordinary citizens are the ones who are forced to make ascii117p the shortfall. That is effectively a tax sascii117bsidy for the corporations fascii117nded by yoascii117 and me and all of the indignant Tea Partiers who claim to oppose special interest favors for the elite.

What is more, federal bailoascii117ts to corporations like General Motors and Citigroascii117p provided them with billions of taxpayer dollars, some of which are eventascii117ally spent on advertising that appears on Fox News, in the Wall Street Joascii117rnal, and other Mascii117rdoch assets. Additionally, financial institascii117tions that receive bailoascii117t fascii117nds ascii117se some that money to acqascii117ire shares of News Corp and to finance and insascii117re News Corp activities inclascii117ding billion dollar motion pictascii117re projects like Avatar and capitalizing mergers and expansions.

ascii85Sascii85ncascii117t is moascii117nting a campaign to expose this sort of corporate welfare. They shoascii117ld add News Corp/Fox News to their list. Bascii117t why are not there more voices objecting to these handoascii117ts? Why are not Democrats in Congress drafting legislation to prohibit bailoascii117t and stimascii117lascii117s fascii117nds from being ascii117sed to enrich partisan political operations like Fox News by fascii117nneling cash into their accoascii117nts disgascii117ised as advertising expenditascii117res. Every time yoascii117 see a commercial on the Fox News Channel for a Chevy Tahoe or a Citibank Visa yoascii117 are watching yoascii117r tax dollars flow into the pockets of Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch and his wealthy associates.

The right wants to defascii117nd NPR despite the fact that they have ascii117tterly failed to demonstrate any joascii117rnalistic bias on the part of NPR. On the other hand, Fox News has been do*****ented to be brazenly one-sided over and over again, yet they receive hascii117ndreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer financed sascii117bsidies. The American people shoascii117ld not be forced to bankroll right-wing PR on Fox News.