Wednesday, February 23, 2011

US Uncut plans major protest Feb. 26 to hold corporations accountable

Protest is in the air, and it's about time!

The US Uncut organization is planning a nationwide and international protest on Saturday, February 26, to "hold major, multinational corporations accountable for dodging their income tax obligations and then leaving average American workers to bear the burden of their negligence," says US Uncut activist Betsy Chapman.

An offshoot of UK Uncut, the organization actually was started by Carl Gibson of Jackson, Miss., and it is now operating in 29 U.S. cities, including Jackson. It is hoping to set up many more local offices across the country, including in my own hometown, Oxford, Miss.

The February 26 protest will be part of an international protest against tax-avoiding corporations and the politicians who curry favor with them while slashing much-needed programs that serve the public as well as slashing or trimming back public jobs, as we're now seeing in Wisconsin and other states.

President Obama has called for trimming or eliminating as many as 200 federal programs in his latest budget, and Republicans would like to push those and more cuts to draconian levels.

Meanwhile nearly two-thirds of U.S. corporations don't even pay income taxes, taking advantage of tax myriad loopholes and offshore tax havens, according to US Uncut.

According to the U.S. Government Accounting Office, those havens are enjoyed by 83 of the top 100 publicly traded corporations operating in the United States.

Check out the US Uncut Web site for more information.

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