Online Campaign Details Billions California Wastes Yearly That Should Go To Funding Essential Services

(Sacramento) – The California Labor Federation today launched a new website and social media campaign to highlight the devastating impact that budget-killing corporate tax breaks are having on our state. www.ZombieLoopholes.com brings a number of wasteful corporate tax breaks that are bleeding our state of billions each year out of the shadows so the public is aware that they’re contributing to deep budget cuts to school funding, services for seniors and public safety.
The effort to raise awareness about zombie loopholes will include a social media campaign and online petition that will be delivered to California legislators. The website and social media outreach renew the California Labor Federation’s call for the legislature to conduct a thorough review of corporate tax breaks -- eliminating those that are not benefitting the state’s economy -- before any additional cuts are made to services.
“While, fortunately, it doesn’t appear a ‘zombie apocalypse’ is anywhere on the horizon, zombie loopholes pose a very real and immediate threat to schools, public safety and other essential services our families and communities rely upon,” California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski said. “This new site brings the zombies out of the shadows so the public can see for themselves how much the state is wasting each year on ineffective corporate tax breaks.”
The site highlights four “zombie loopholes” and the related revenue those loopholes are ripping from the state that could instead go to closing our budget gap and funding education, services for those with disabilities and other vital programs. The site’s “survival guide” offers an emergency plan for the legislature to deal with these zombie loopholes.
On ZombieLoopholes.com, each tax break has been assigned a “kill capacity” equal to the amount of revenue it’s draining the state that could be used for vital programs and services:
- Elective Single Sales Tax Zombie Loophole
Kill Capacity: $1 billion for schools, public safety and essential services
- Oil Severance Tax Zombie Loophole
Kill Capacity: $2 billion for schools, public safety and essential services
- Change-of-Ownership Zombie Loophole
Kill Capacity: $2 billion divided between local government and schools
- Enterprise Zone (EZ) Zombie Loophole
Kill Capacity: Quality, good-paying jobs and $500 million a year for schools, public safety and essential services
The loopholes highlighted on the site were recently identified in a report by California Tax Reform Association Executive Director Lenny Goldberg, which found that wasteful corporate tax breaks are costing the state more $6 billion per year.
“Our state doesn’t have to be entombed in perpetual budget crises,” Pulaski said. “Zombies may not be real, but the choices the state has to balance the budget are. We can either continue allowing these zombie loopholes to drain the life out of our state’s economy, or we can eradicate them now and begin investing in California’s future.”