End
Corporate Welfare Now
Corporations
aren’t people, despite what the Supreme Court says, and they don’t need or
deserve handouts.
When
corporations get special handouts from the government – subsidies and tax
breaks – it costs you. It means you have to pay more in taxes to make up for
these hidden expenses. And government has less money for good schools and
roads, Medicare and national defense, and everything else you need.
You
might call these special corporate handouts “corporate welfare,” but at least
welfare goes to real people in need. In the big picture, corporate handouts are
costing tens of billions of dollars a year. Some estimates put it over $100
billion – which means it’s costing you money that would otherwise go to better
schools or roads, or lower taxes.
Conservatives
have made a game of obscuring where federal spending actually goes. In reality,
only about 12 percent of federal spending goes to individuals and families,
most in dire need. An increasing portion goes to corporate welfare.
Other
examples: The oil, gas, and coal industries get billions in their own special
tax breaks. Big Agribusiness gets farm subsidies. Big Pharma gets their own
subsidy in the form of a ban on government using its bargaining power under
Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices. And hedge-fund and private-equity
managers get a special tax loophole that treats their income as capital gains,
at a lower tax rate than ordinary income.
The
real issue isn’t the government’s size. It’s whom government is for. Much of
government is no longer working for the vast majority it’s intended to serve.
If government were responding to the public’s interest instead of the moneyed
interests, it would be providing more support for communities, families, and
individuals who need it the most.
There’s no reason any corporations should be on the dole, or that your hard-earned dollars should be going to them for no reason but their political clout.
So
we have to demand an end to corporate welfare. No more handouts to particular
corporations and industries simply because they’re big enough and powerful
enough to get them. No more specialized tax breaks. No more exemptions or
special treatment. No more crony capitalism.
ROBERT
B. REICH, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of
California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing
Economies, was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration. Time Magazine
named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth
century. He has written thirteen books, including the best sellers
“Aftershock" and “The Work of Nations." His latest, "Beyond
Outrage," is now out in paperback. He is also a founding editor of the American
Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause. His new film, "Inequality
for All," is now available on Netflix, iTunes, DVD, and On Demand.