US Uncut

Repatriate, transitive verb
To restore or return to the country of origin, allegiance, or citizenship

President Obama and Congress, by many accounts, seem to be poised to allow corporations to bring back over $1 trillion in offshore, untaxed profits at a highly-reduced tax rate. What's wrong with a sudden influx of corporate cash? For starters, it probably won't create new jobs, help fund social services like K-12 education, or even curb inflation. And it won't do any of these things if the measly, short-term revenue it creates is tied to any particular fund, like infrastructure, either.

A so-called 'repatriation' holiday would do two things, though: (1) allow corporations to dodge billions in taxes and (2) encourage them to start up their next offshore cash stockpile, so that five years down the road we can play the same game of political theatre and bring home more cash "held hostage overseas"

US Uncut is taking a different tack to the problem of offshore tax havens, by laying bare the real agenda of the WIN America Campaign and other corporate lobbyists in their massive tax dodging scheme. With the help of the Yes Men, we are taking our videocameras and our anger to the source of the problem: the Cayman Islands. Will you help us expose what Nicholas Shaxson, author of Treasure Islands, calls "a hot-money archipelago" that destabilizes world markets and robs our country of precious revenue for social services?

What the tax holiday lobby is trying to do doesn't deserve the name "repatriation", a not-so-subtle attempt to paint a greedy tax avoidance scheme with patriotic and nationalistic hues. Americans do deserve a corporate coming-clean though, so let's get sailing!

Solidarity,

JW

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Carl GIBSON - usuncut@gmail.com 601-454-6443
Ryan CLAYTON- uncutclayton@gmail.com 202-656-2116

US Uncut confronts Third Way group & former progressive Andy Stern
Opposes Tax Dodging Tax Holiday, Supports Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act

Washington, DC – Today, members of US Uncut, the grassroots effort pressuring corporate tax cheats to pay their fair share, confronted former SEIU head Andy Stern at a Third Way group meeting on corporate tax reform.

Stern has recently been more vocal in his support of the Freedom to Invest Act of 2011, which would allow multinational corporations to bring $1 trillion back to the United States and pay just a 5% tax rate, rather than the marginal 35% US corporate tax rate. If passed, the legislation would grant tax breaks in excess of $80 billion at a time when the nation is more than $13 trillion in debt and while drastic budget cuts are being proposed to nearly all essential public services.

“Why not just make all these corporations pay their fair share just like everyone else? Why not pass the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act and outlaw tax dodging? Why are we rewarding these corporations that are
dodging their taxes?" US Uncut DC organizer Ryan Clayton asked of Stern at the meeting, adding, “And you, sir, should be ashamed of yourself.”

The Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, authored by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), would reform the US corporate tax code to close all offshore loopholes currently exploited by 2/3rds of US corporations and result in an additional $100 billion per year in tax revenue. US Uncut is demanding Congress pass Levin’s legislation to offset cuts proposed in the FY 2012 budget.

“It is unacceptable for our leaders to let billion-dollar corporations dodge their tax obligations while cutting nurses, teachers, firefighters and other public servants,” said US Uncut spokesperson Carl Gibson, “If they want to employ our workers, use our public services, and depend on our police and firefighters for protection, they need to pay our taxes.”

As Americans are being forced to endure brutal budget cuts, US Uncut instead calls for an end to corporate tax avoidance, focusing on General Electric, Bank of America, Verizon and other companies that aggressively dodge taxes through overseas bank accounts in known tax havens like the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg and Monaco.

“We already got duped once by this hoax of repatriating profits with Bush’s ‘American Jobs Creation Act,” said Clayton, “It did not create jobs and only opened the door for tax haven abusers to continue to cheat the system.”

US Uncut is a decentralized grassroots movement organized through social media that connects corporate tax cheating to public service cuts. The group has led over 300 actions nationwide since February 2011.

For more information, please visit: http://USuncut.org
For pictures and video of previous actions, please see: http://USuncut.org/actions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Monday, June 6, 2011

Naomi SELIGMAN - naomi@fitzgibbonmedia.com
CJ FROGOZO – cj@fitzgibbonmedia.com
Joanne GIFFORD - worksalot2@me.com
Leslie DREYER - usuncutsf@gmail.com
Twitter #iUncut

San Francisco, CA – US Uncut, the grassroots effort pressuring corporate tax cheats to pay their fair share, crashed Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference today, using Apple's own technology to expose the company's systematic tax dodging. (Follow developments during the event on Twitter at #iUncut).

“Apple is one of the most profitable companies in the world and now they're lobbying for extra tax loopholes,” said US Uncut San Francisco organizer Leslie Dreyer, “During a time of devestating budget cuts, we cannot afford for companies like Apple to try to finagle special treatment. I can sync my iPhone to my MacBook, why can’t I sync it to my values?”

As more than 5,000 attendees streamed into San Francisco's Moscone Center to hear new Apple product lines announced, they were greeted by what appeared to be an Apple publicity stunt – men and women were sheathed head to toe in a rainbow of Apple-colored spandex body suits emblazoned with a giant QR code (like a barcode for an internet address). However, when attendees used iPhone apps to follow the code on the Internet, instead of an Apple product announcement, a new music video appeared, “Apple: Tax Cheating Doesn’t Sync with My Values,” which is spreading virally on the Internet. Apple was not happy to have their party crashed by creative protest.

This weekend irate citizens staged “dance-ins” at Apple Stores in 15 cities across the country, demanding the computer giant pay its fair share. They used in-store computers to play the new video, dancing along with it inside the stores.

We're using creative ways to express our outrage at companies like Apple, who is seeking new tax loopholes while the public services we all depend on get the axe,” said US Uncut California organizer Joanne Gifford, “Should we really be giving away billions to the folks who sell iPads while Congress cuts Grandma off Medicare? That’s simply shameful. Do we want $4 billion for Apple OR salaries for 90,000 teachers?”

US Uncut is demanding that Apple stop supporting the “Win America Campaign” (WAC), an effort aiming to repatriate $1 trillion in corporate profits now stashed in overseas tax havens at a mere 5.25% tax rate. The current legal tax rate on foreign earnings is 35% when they are brought back to the shores of the United States. If Congress gives the corporations in the WAC coalition this tax loophole, it would cost American taxpayers over $80 billion.

“I love my iPhone, but I hate tax cheats. The only winners in the WAC effort are the same corporate executives who continue to steal $1 trillion out of our nation’s coffers every decade,” said US Uncut spokesperson Carl Gibson, “Hey, Apple, if you’re going to lead the tax dodgers lobby, then expect us to show up on your corporate storefront. We all pay our fair share of taxes, and Apple should too.”

US Uncut is a decentralized grassroots movement organized through social media that connects corporate tax cheating to public service cuts. As Americans are being forced to endure brutal budget cuts, US Uncut is calling for an end to corporate tax avoidance, focusing on Apple, General Electric, Bank of America, Verizon and other companies that aggressively dodge taxes. The group has led over 300 actions nationwide since February 2011.

For more information, please visit: http://USuncut.org/targets/apple