| Tuesday, May 13, 2003 |  |
| IRS and Low-Income Taxpayers | 0 comments |
| 13 May 2003 @ 17:42 The Bush Administration has asked the IRS to require low-income working people who claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to provide the most exhaustive proof of eligibility ever demanded of any class of taxpayers. Even though the EITC has long had bipartisan support as one of the most effective anti-poverty programs ever - three-quarters of the people who claim it have incomes of $20,000 a year or less - this proposal could undo much of the progress made in helping families escape poverty. The process for filing for the EITC is very complex. The instruction booklet alone is 54 pages! It is widely acknowledged that many errors made in the filing process are not fraudulent, but are simple mistakes. The IRS says that in 1998, EITC filers who were not entitled to the credit received between $8.5 and $10 billion. In contrast, a Harvard economist's study showed that corporations avoided $54 billion in taxes in 1999 by hiding profits in tax shelters. As military spending increases and politicians argue for expensive tax cuts that benefit the wealthy, the needs of poor people are being ignored. Funding for programs that assist those who Jesus called "the least of these" is being cut. With this EITC proposal, the President is not just ignoring poor people - he is targeting them. Your elected leaders in Washington can stop this, but they need to hear from you. Sojourners urges you to Send a message to key leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, urging them to hold hearings and stop the IRS from implementing this proposal. Send this alert to your friends, and learn how you can do more to put America's poor back on the national agenda. |
| DISNEY TO FINANCE NEW BUSH-BASHING DOCUMENTARY | 1 comment |
| 13 May 2003 @ 17:24 MICKEY MOORE: DISNEY TO FINANCE NEW BUSH-BASHING DOCUMENTARY The Drudge Report Sunday, May 11, 2003 DISNEY's modern-day magic kingdom has room for all: Now joining Mickey and Minnie and Pooh bear and Goofy -- is Hollywood badboy Michael Moore, the DRUDGE REPORT explains. The WALT DISNEY CO. is set to spend millions financing a new explosive Bush-bashing documentary from Michael Moore [BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE] -- a documentary which claims bin Laden was greatly enriched by the Bush family! DISNEY, via subsidiary MIRAMAX, has agreed to cover the production costs, said to be in the millions, of Moore's planned FAHRENHEIT 911. "The primary thrust of the new film is what has happened to the country since Sept. 11, and how the Bush administration used this tragic event to push its agenda," Moore explains. FAHRENHEIT 911 will be released during the upcoming presidential election cycle. [More Moore in '04.] The director claims he will document on film how the "senior Bush kept his ties with the bin Laden family up until two months after Sept. 11." Moore will also scrutinize, in graphic detail, why America is so disliked abroad. With DISNEY financing now secure, Moore, who once railed against corporate media interests, may appear at this week's Cannes film festival in France. More > |
| FCC to propose easing US television caps | 0 comments |
 13 May 2003 @ 17:17FCC to propose easing US television caps By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington Published: May 11 2003 Michael Powell, chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission, is expected to propose an increase in the US television cap to 45 per cent when he presents a draft of new media ownership rules to his fellow commissioners on Monday. The proposal will be welcomed by News Corp and Viacom, which stand to benefit. The existing cap prevents one company from reaching more than 35 per cent of the US national television audience. Increasing the cap would allow large television networks to buy more local stations. It would also eliminate the need for CBS (Viacom) and Fox (News Corp), who are currently in breach of the cap, to divest stations. On June 2, the FCC's five commissioners will vote on Mr Powell's proposals to ease decades-old rules that the Republican chairman says have become obsolete with the emergence of cable and satellite television and the internet. While Mr Powell is understood to have the support of his two fellow Republican commissioners, it has not come without a cost. The chairman, who argues that free-to-air television is under threat from cable and satellite networks, favoured a larger increase or elimination of the cap. But he was forced to compromise at 45 per cent with fellow Republican Kevin Martin. Another regulation that will see significant changes is the newspaper-broadcast rule, which prevents one company from owning newspapers and television stations in the same market. The Senate commerce committee, which monitors the FCC, will hold a hearing on Monday about media ownership at which some senators are likely to call on the FCC to put its rules out for public comment. Meanwhile, the White House has privately urged Mr Powell not to delay the proceedings. |