Evaders, Seceders, Confederates and Outlaws

The Houston Chronicle reports on a meeting of Texas secessionists who got a surprise visit from local police, Texas Rangers and FBI. No mention of Walker, Texas Ranger being among them.

Ron Paul, the libertarian Republican congressman (and father of the moppet-haired presidential candidate) thinks it’s a great idea to secede from the United States.

Unlike these characters in Texas, the big secessionists are the large corporations who only secede their money. They don’t secede completely. They live here. They own properties here, and run companies here, and their companies use our roads and other public systems paid for by taxpayers. They enjoy all the things US citizens enjoy, but they have the option of not paying for those things, at least not at the rate working people do. Some corporations don’t pay any taxes at all. They keep one hand in their pocket. Their other hand is always out for government contracts and subsidies.

A CNN piece on corporate tax evaders.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' lists the top ten corporate tax evaders and corporate welfare recipients.

Flip The Debt is running a meter on the billions these tax cheats are making off with.

Some little known facts about the biggest corporate freeloaders.

The other Walker isn’t a Texas Ranger, he’s a governor. His secessionist trick is to secede taxpayers’ money, which is intended to pay for Wisconsin state government, infrastructure, education and the general welfare of Wisconsin’s citizens, and to pay it instead to out-of-state corporations like Koch International and to wealthier Wisconsinites (most of whom winter in the South each year) in the form of tax breaks and refunds. Wisconsin does owe for the things that have been done and billed but Walker has decided he can simply not pay for things he doesn’t like. Wisconsin has become an a la carte state where paying the bill is optional. Nobody writes about this more entertainingly than Charlie Pierce.