"A legislative bordello for corporate America" ... Stiglitz (and Moyers) size up Congress ...

A new report by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz for the Roosevelt Institute suggests that paying our fair share of taxes and cracking down on corporate tax dodgers could be a cure for inequality and a faltering economy.

This week on Moyers & Company, Stiglitz tells Bill that Apple, Google, GE and a host of other Fortune 500 companies are creating what amounts to “an unlimited IRA for corporations.” The result? Vast amounts of lost revenue for our treasury and the exporting of much-needed jobs to other countries.

“I think we can use our tax system to create a better society, to be an expression of our true values.” Stiglitz says. “But if people don’t think that their tax system is fair, they’re not going to want to contribute. It’s going to be difficult to get them to pay. And, unfortunately, right now, our tax system is neither fair nor efficient.”

http://billmoyers.com/episode/joseph-e-stiglitz-let%E2%80%99s-stop-subsidizing-tax-dodgers/




ETA: Interesting to note that Stiglitz mentions Citibank and GE, many other large corps, and mentions Apple only at the end of the list. The abstract mentions Apple and Google, but not the finance corps. Seems there's a preference in some quarters to come down on the high-name-recognition tech companies, and ignore the biggest dinosaurs in the pen. Seems like an attempt at misdirection to me.