{"id":118252,"date":"2021-04-12T19:57:50","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T19:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=185342"},"modified":"2021-04-12T19:57:50","modified_gmt":"2021-04-12T19:57:50","slug":"the-terrible-deal-between-corporate-america-and-the-gop-is-alive-and-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/04\/12\/the-terrible-deal-between-corporate-america-and-the-gop-is-alive-and-well\/","title":{"rendered":"The Terrible Deal Between Corporate America and the GOP Is Alive and Well"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For four decades, the basic deal between big American corporations and politicians has been simple. Corporations provide campaign funds. Politicians reciprocate by lowering corporate taxes and doing whatever else corporations need to boost profits.<\/p>\n

The deal has proven beneficial to both sides, although not to the American public. Campaign spending has soared while corporate taxes have shriveled.<\/p>\n

In the 1950s, corporations accounted for about 40 percent of federal revenue. Today, they contribute a meager 7 percent<\/a>. Last year, more than 50 of the largest U.S. companies paid no federal income taxes<\/a> at all. Many haven\u2019t paid taxes for years. <\/p>\n

Republicans have long championed “corporate speech” when it comes in the form of campaign cash\u2014just not as criticism.<\/span>Both parties have been in on this deal although the GOP has been the bigger player. Yet since Donald Trump issued his big lie about the fraudulence of the 2020 election, corporate America has had a few qualms about its deal with the GOP.  <\/p>\n

After the storming of the Capitol, dozens of giant corporations said they would no longer donate to the 147 Republican members of Congress who objected to the certification of Biden electors on the basis of the big lie.<\/p>\n

Then came the GOP\u2019s recent wave of restrictive state voting laws, premised on the same big lie. Georgia\u2019s are among the most egregious. The chief executive of Coca Cola, headquartered in the peach tree state, calls those laws \u201cwrong\u201d and \u201ca step backward.\u201d The CEO of Delta Airlines, Georgia\u2019s largest employer, says they\u2019re \u201cunacceptable.\u201d Major League Baseball decided to relocate its annual All-Star Game away from the home of the Atlanta Braves.<\/p>\n

These criticisms have unleashed a rare firestorm of anti-corporate Republican indignation. The senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, warns corporations of unspecified \u201cserious consequences\u201d for speaking out. Republicans are moving to revoke Major League Baseball\u2019s antitrust status. Georgia Republicans threaten<\/a> to punish Delta Airlines by repealing a state tax credit for jet fuel. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are we still listening to these woke corporate hypocrites on taxes, regulations & antitrust?\u201d asks Florida Senator Marco Rubio. <\/p>\n

Why? For the same reason Willy Sutton gave when asked why he robbed banks: That\u2019s where the money is.<\/p>\n

McConnell told reporters that corporations should \u201cstay out of politics\u201d but then qualified his remark: \u201cI\u2019m not talking about political contributions.\u201d Of course not. Republicans have long championed “corporate speech” when it comes in the form of campaign cash\u2014just not as criticism.  <\/p>\n

Talk about hypocrisy. McConnell was the top recipient of corporate money in the 2020 election cycle and has a long history of battling attempts to limit it. In 2010, he hailed the Supreme Court\u2019s \u201cCitizens United\u201d ruling, which struck down limits on corporate political donations, on the dubious grounds that corporations are \u201cpeople\u201d under the First Amendment to the Constitution. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor too long, some in this country have been deprived of full participation in the political process,\u201d McConnell said at the time. Hint: He wasn\u2019t referring to poor Black people.  <\/p>\n

It\u2019s hypocrisy squared. The growing tsunami of corporate campaign money suppresses votes indirectly by drowning out all other voices. Republicans are in the grotesque position of calling on corporations to continue bribing politicians as long as they don\u2019t criticize Republicans for suppressing votes directly. <\/p>\n

The hypocrisy flows in the other direction as well. The Delta\u2019s CEO criticized GOP voter suppression but the company continues to bankroll Republicans. Its PAC contributed $1,725,956 in the 2020 election, more than $1 million of which went to federal candidates, mostly to Republicans. Oh, and Delta hasn\u2019t paid federal taxes for years.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let the spat fool you. The basic deal between the GOP and corporate America is still very much alive. <\/p>\n

Which is why, despite record-low corporate taxes, congressional Republicans are feigning outrage at Joe Biden\u2019s plan to have corporations pay for his $2 trillion infrastructure proposal. Biden isn\u2019t even seeking to raise the corporate tax rate as high as it was before the Trump tax cut, yet not a single Republicans will support it. <\/p>\n

A few Democrats, such as West Virginia\u2019s Joe Manchin, don\u2019t want to raise corporate taxes as high as Biden does, either. Yet almost two-thirds<\/a> of Americans support the idea. <\/p>\n

The basic deal between American corporations and American politicians has been a terrible deal for America. Which is why a piece of legislation entitled the \u201cFor the People Act,\u201d passed by the House and co-sponsored in the Senate by every Democratic senator except Manchin, is so important. It would both stop states from suppressing votes and also move the country toward public financing of elections, thereby reducing politicians\u2019 dependence on corporate cash. <\/p>\n

Corporations can and should bankroll much of what America needs. But they won\u2019t as long as corporations keep bankrolling American politicians.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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