A Lesson In Right-Wing Bias

The photo above is of a scenic spot in the Cayman Islands, a favored location for corporate cheats who wish to dodge paying U.S. taxes. It definitely pertains to this article from Dan Morgan of the Washington Post that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday.

The story has to do with a bill sponsored by the U.S. House that ran into a host of objections from Republicans and ended up facing the inevitable veto threat from President Clouded Vision (who just seems permanently attached to that veto pen any more, by the way...and here's more).

As the Inquirer notes…

In addition to paying for traditional farm programs, the bill provides billions of dollars over the next decade for conservation, research on biofuels, and nutrition programs such as food stamps. There is new money for organic farmers, fruit and vegetable snacks for schoolchildren, and rural development.

At a Capitol Hill rally Tuesday attended by dozens of farm-state lawmakers, lobbyists and representatives of advocacy groups, Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D., Minn.) said the bill "strikes the proper balance as it relates to reform."

So what’s the problem? Well, it has to do with how the bill would be funded…

Farm-state Republicans had been lining up with Democrats to defend the bipartisan bill but changed course when notified that a proposed increase in funding for nutrition programs would be paid for partly by tightening rules on U.S.-based foreign companies that use offshore tax havens to avoid U.S. taxes.

Republicans quickly picked up on a White House statement branding the funding plan as an unacceptable tax increase. Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, the ranking Republican on the House Agriculture Committee, said all GOP members on the panel as well as top GOP leaders would oppose the bill if the funding proposal stayed in.

So the House Dems are trying to make it harder for companies that do business offshore to avoid taxes and also used those taxes they would pay to finance the program. I call that pretty clever legislating.

So how does the Inquirer choose to describe this in a headline? Well (no surprise, I guess), they describe what the Dems are trying to legislate as a “tax hike” (exactly how the Repugs falsely described it, of course).

Anyone who thinks what the Dems are trying to do constitutes a “tax hike” should read the following from Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa (who is a Repug, as we know)…

"Average working Americans can't pull up stakes and move to Bermuda or set up a fancy tax shelter to avoid paying taxes," Grassley said. "Companies that do this make a sucker out of working Americans and companies that stay in the United States and pay their fair share of taxes. Since we're giving tax relief to companies and small businesses, it's only fair that we tighten the law for those avoiding their fair share."

What a pity that the Inky doesn’t recognize something so obvious to Grassley and the majority of people in this country.