US Uncut represents a new protest movement against the cutting of social programs that help the poor and the middle class while large, profitable corporations pay no taxes in the U.S. You might call it a liberal counterpart to the Tea Party—that’s a rough description, to be sure, and leaves out of account the levels of the Tea Party that are deeply capitalized and anything but grassroots—but it has a spontaneity and a sense of outrage that bad things are happening to good people that recall the more genuine, positive traits of local Tea Party chapters.
US Uncut’s battle cry: “If you have $1 in your pocket, then you have more than ExxonMobil, General Electric, and Bank of America paid in taxes last year, combined… Big U.S. corporations dodge up to $100 billion in taxes every year, which equals $1 trillion every decade that is not invested in our country’s future.”
US Uncut was inspired by a British organization, UK Uncut, that investigates corporations that contribute to economic inequality by tilting resources toward the wealthy, and the ties between those monied interests and politicians. A recent target of UK Uncut was the venerable Fortnum and Mason department store. From the UK Uncut website:
“Fortnum and Mason is owned by Wittington Investments. Wittington Investments has a 54 percent stake in Associated British Foods (ABF), a multinational food corporation with revenues of some 10bn/year.
“Some time between 2005 and 2008, ABF set up a holding company in Luxembourg. It then sent large sums of money—interest free… into this holding account. … According to tax experts, this has meant ABF’s annual tax avoidance amounts to at least 10m through offsetting interest payments on profits.
“Although Wittington is ultimately linked backed to the Weston Family Trust, which has charitable status, ABF is not a charity in any sense. The Weston Family Trust naturally support the pro-corporate, pro-privatisation policies being promoted by the coalition government and are major backers of the Tory Party.
“This is just one example of the many super- rich individuals and profitable big businesses going out of their way to minimise their tax bills. Some ?25bn every year is thought to be lost to the public purse by wealthy tax avoiders…”
These movements use demonstrations as well as informative posts to push for the changes they advocate. Check them out at www.usuncut.org and www.ukuncut.org.uk.
