Page 2 The Skanner April 20, 2016
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
Opinion
Bernie Foster
Founder/Publisher
Protesting the Right to Vote: Democracy Awakening
Bobbie Dore Foster
Executive Editor
W
Jerry Foster
Advertising Manager
Christen McCurdy
News Editor
Patricia Irvin
Graphic Designer
Arashi Young
Reporter
Monica J. Foster
Seattle Office Coordinator
Susan Fried
Photographer
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hen we think about
the right to vote, it
is and should be un-
derstood to be a civic
sacrament in the temple of de-
mocracy. However, this pres-
idential election will be the
first in 50 years without the
full protection of the Voting
Rights Act.
In 1965, the Voting Rights
Act was enacted with the
blood, sweat and tears of
Americans from all across
the country. But 50 years lat-
er, we’re still dealing with
a multi-hued, multi-racial,
multi-ethnic form of bias and
discrimination at the ballot
box.
To combat this assault on
the right to vote, the NAACP
has come together with more
than 260 organizations – rep-
resenting the labor, peace, en-
vironmental, student, racial
justice, civil rights and money
in politics reform movements
– to stage a mass convergence
this month on Washington,
D.C. and call for democracy
reforms.
On April 16-18, thousands
of activists will mobilize in
the nation’s capital for De-
mocracy Awakening, a three-
day event featuring a rally,
march, teach-ins, lobbying
and civil disobedience. De-
mocracy Awakening plans to
fight back against business
Cornell
William
Brooks
NAACP
President
and CEO
as usual in Washington, D.C.,
and demand a democracy
that works for everyone. This
means restoration of full vot-
ing rights, breaking the stran-
glehold corporations and the
wealthy have on elections,
and and demand Congress
hold hearings and vote to fill
“
vote. Since then, we have seen
state legislature after state
legislature engage in a Machi-
avellian frenzy of voter disen-
franchisement.
More than 30 states have
imposed voter ID laws, which
on their face seem innocuous.
But, when we keep in mind
which American voters don’t
possess these ID’s, we have
reason to be alarmed.
Consider the state of Tex-
as. Because of voter ID laws,
it is estimated that between
500,000 to 700,000 eligible
citizens do not possess the
prerequisite I.D. – dispro-
years – is at risk.
Students also are being put
at risk. In Texas, a law essen-
tially said, if you have an ID
that allows you to carry a con-
cealed weapon, it is deemed
sufficient as civic proof of
identification to vote.
But a library card — an I.D.
that allows you to carry a
book of Shakespeare or of
chemistry – is deemed an
insufficient form of proof to
vote.
Consider North Carolina,
once the most progressive
state in the country with re-
spect to voting rights. But, in a
few short years in
the wake of Shelby,
we saw a massive
rollback in terms
of that franchise.
Among the mea-
sures that were curtailed or
constrained:
“pre-registra-
tion,” which allowed 17-year-
olds who were about to turn
18 in time for a new election to
register early; Sunday voting
and early voting.
Instead of curtailing and re-
straining the right to vote, we
should be expanding it. It is,
once again, the time to stand
up and fight for our right to
vote.
The NAACP is committed
to breaking down barriers to
the ballot box and maximiz-
ing the vote.
We have seen state legislature after state
legislature engage in a Machiavellian
frenzy of voter disenfranchisement
the U.S. Supreme Court va-
cancy.
People all across the coun-
try, African-Americans, Lati-
nos, students, and senior
citizens feel as though the
civic sacrament of the right to
vote is being threatened. As
a result of the U.S. Supreme
Court’s misguided Shelby
County decision in 2013,
which invalidated Section
4(b) of the 1965 Voting Rights
Act, millions of Americans
are now denied the strong
protection of their right to
portionately affecting low-in-
come citizens, African-Amer-
icans, and Latinos.
We know that voter ID laws
also disproportionately dis-
enfranchise the elderly. For
example, 93-year-old Rosanell
Eaton is legally challenging
North Carolina’s voter ID law.
She has voted for 70 years –
but, because she was born at
home, because her name does
not match the name on the
birth certificate or match the
name on the voting roll, her
franchise – notwithstanding
the fact that she voted for 70
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Let’s Re-Focus on Closing Shell Companies and Tax Havens
I
t is hard to believe that the
second easiest place in the
world to run a shady, anon-
ymous, and often criminal
corporation is right here in
the United States. According
to a recent academic study,
the United States is second
only to Kenya for harboring
these shell companies used
to launder money and skirt
their taxes.
Much like the classic
sleight-of-hand game, compa-
nies across the country — in-
cluding many here in Oregon
— are shifting and shuffling
ownership and holdings until
we lose track of who or where
they are.
Criminal organizations reg-
ularly set up shell companies
to launder ill-gotten revenues
and fund their criminal enter-
prise. In the case of multi-na-
tional corporations, however,
what they are doing is not ille-
gal. That doesn’t mean there
aren’t victims. The elaborate
game of deception corpora-
tions play costs the average
taxpayer nearly $1,500 annu-
ally, close to $4,000 if you own
a small business. They shift,
they shuffle, and we pick up
the tab.
This month’s leak of the Pan-
ama Papers revealed more
than 11 million documents
from a Panamanian legal
team showing the actual dev-
Maurice
Rahming
Guest
Columnist
astating toll anonymous shell
companies take on the world,
signally a time for U.S. action.
Our own Senator Ron
Wyden has commented on the
paper’s release and says he
will open an inquiry into the
“
eryday Americans are the vic-
tim, and call these tax avoiding
multinational corporations
what they are, criminals.
America shouldn’t he one of
the easiest places in the world
to form these companies; we
can’t afford to be.
Roughly 100 media outlets
collaborated on the “Panama
Papers” investigation, and
they have begun publishing
a series of stories based on
documents leaked from the
prominent Panama-based law
firm Mossack Fonseca. Many
coalition partners urge the
House Ways & Means Com-
mittee to eliminate the off-
shore tax loopholes abused by
wealthy individuals and mul-
tinational companies to avoid
paying taxes that then must
be made up by individual cit-
izens and small businesses, to
the tune of $150 billion a year.
Some of the biggest com-
panies in the country – like
Apple, Pfizer, Wal-Mart and,
of course, Nike — shift their
profits offshore to a network
of foreign subsidiaries in
countries known for
their abnormally low
corporate tax rates. Use
of such systems allows
358 of the largest 500
multinational
compa-
nies in the U.S. to avoid paying
their fair share in taxes.
Likewise, offshore tax ha-
ven secrecy enables wealthy
Americans to secretly hide
their wealth abroad, away
from tax authorities — stick-
ing the rest of us with the tab.
The Stop Tax Haven Abuse
Act — currently pending in
both the House and Senate
— would end the ability of
wealthy individuals to cheat
on their taxes while simulta-
neously putting an end to the
ability of the biggest compa-
nies in the world to indefinite-
ly defer paying the taxes that
they owe.
The elaborate game of deception cor-
porations play costs the average tax-
payer nearly $1,500 annually
tax evasion issues revealed.
While we applaud his ef-
forts, this issue can’t be tack-
led alone. The Main Street
Alliance, and our national
coalition partners at FACT
(Financial Accountability and
Corporate Transparency) call
on Senator Merkley and our
representatives in Congress
to not only look into the crim-
inal avoidance of taxes but to
develop a head-on approach.
We are calling on our mem-
bers of Congress to pass a law
to stop the creation of anon-
ymous shell companies that
facilitate crimes, of which ev-
of these secretly owned com-
panies exposed in the papers
operate in Nevada or Wyo-
ming, but recent reporting
from the Portland Business
Journal suggest that Oregon
is not far off.
These states act as getaway
cars for money launderers,
terrorists and corporate tax
evaders, and it is time to take
away the keys. Requiring the
collection and publication
of information on who owns
and controls these companies
would make it much harder to
launder dirty money.
Small business owners
across the country and our