Union Perspectives

What do Apple, Microsoft, Starbucks, Fiat and many other corporations have in common? They all know how to dodge paying their taxes or at most pay very little taxes. One way they do this is to have their headquarters in very low tax nations, such as Ireland. This is about to change. The European Union’s (EU) 28 states agreed in October to share details of tax deals they reached with big companies to make sure they are fair to other countries. The EU has already ordered Starbucks and Fiat to pay millions in back taxes. Italy is making Apple pay $350 million in back taxes. The other way to avoid paying taxes is by using Bermuda as a tax haven. Microsoft stores billions in an entity named R.I. Holdings. It is a law firm in Hamilton, Bermuda, a UK territory that charges no corporate taxes. Microsoft has places like this to hide its money so it does not have to pay taxes around the world. This is just some of the ways large corporations and their stock holders and chief executive officers (...

Then the rulers and bosses seek to squeeze the last drop of blood out of the Have Nots and working class whose labor is or was the source of their wealth. The capitalist governances in Europe are united only in their determination to make working people bear the brunt of their greed. Within the European Union, which includes the 19 member Eurozone, the capitalist in each country plus the U.S. go after the wages and living conditions of the working people within their borders and the anti-union ruling class of the larger powers seeks to reinforce their domination and deepen the exploitation of the toilers, such as removal of obstacles to laying-off workers, weakening unions, and their collective bargaining rights. Then when the power of the people is gone the banks can then force the countries and cities to sell or privatize their assets, such as Athens, Greece, which must privatize its some 55 billion in government assets. This is what is now happening in some U.S. cities. The prolet...