If there was ever an issue important to all Americans, this is it

Last week while on business in Europe the major news story of the week concerned the "artful tax dodge" by major corporations, many American including American icon Apple. Apple stands accused of avoiding $74 billion U.S. by using shell companies in Ireland and Apple correctly says they have done no wrong.

The subject of international tax nomics is incredibly complicated because today's international corporations are often bigger than the economies of many nations. However, during the May G8 Summit the problem of international tax evasion was center stage, even though hardly a peep is found in the U.S. press. The corporate tax evasion problem should be taken very seriously by Americans because many of the world's biggest corporations are based here in the U.S. Some striking facts - It is said enough tax goes unpaid each year by corporations to end world hunger. And currently these corporations are carrying over $1.5 trillion in cash on their balance sheets, good for investors and bad for the rest of us.

Back home in America one must ask, why is Washington avoiding this issue? Are politicians all so over-compensated and isolated from reality that they are ignorant? You bet they are, because while they find ways to tax the ordinary citizens with healthcare mandates, taxing Internet sales and cries to eat the rich, multinational corporations continue to report staggering ever-increasing profits. Why the little guy when the overall tax paid by the biggest American corporations has declined from 30 percent of tax revenue to about 10 percent since the 1950s? Hello Washington, we have a problem here and it includes corporate political favoritism granted for access and profiteering by politicians on insider information, unscrupulous gifts campaign and PAC donations. Greed is contagious, politicians, Liberal and Conservative alike, are guilty of playing politics for personal gain folks.

Granted, the global aspect of business today makes the payment of tax very complicated. American companies are by choice leaving profit abroad and paying little to no taxes at home, rather than repatriating profit only to pay an unreasonably high tax burden. While it might seem un-American to expect tax on profits earned elsewhere, the fact is that companies like Apple are avoiding their civic responsibility altogether.

If there was ever an issue important to all Americans, this is it. With our failing infrastructure, a declining standard of living for many and our education system off the tracks, something must be done to keep companies in America and to encourage them to pay something forward for this country, otherwise this country is destined to become another relic of past glory. You cannot have a modern and dynamic America without reinvestment in those things that the general public needs to be healthy, prosperous and to feel confident about their future.

Reid Harlocker is a resident of Hayden.