(Posted by Steve Smith, California Labor Federation)

The campaign to repeal the egregious corporate tax giveaways that were part of the last budget deal is gathering steam. Thanks to Brian and David for their coverage of this issue – it seems to being having some resonance with folks who are fed up with sweetheart deals for corporations at the expense of the rest of us.

To continue the momentum, the California Labor Federation is organizing statewide actions tomorrow at Chevron gas stations to raise awareness about how desperately flawed these tax breaks are. The actions come on the heels of last week’s letter to the governor and legislative leaders, signed by 75 organizations,  calling for the repeal of corporate tax breaks before an additional dime is cut from services.

Why Chevron? Because there couldn’t be a better example of how upside down our budget process has become.

(Edit by Brian, see the flip)

As Calitics has noted, the last budget deal included corporate tax breaks that will cost the state billions in revenue, including a tax giveaway just like the one that Chevron’s been lobbying to get for years. These giveaways amount to $2.5 billion a year, every year, permanently, to Chevron and a handful of the world’s largest corporations.

To get those huge tax breaks, Chevron has invested heavily. Chevron has six separate lobbying firms working for them in Sacramento. They racked up more than $6 million in lobbying bills in just five years. And that doesn’t include the $48 million they’ve on spent California campaign contributions since 2005.

It’s clear that all the corporate tax giveaways and high-powered lobbyists are paying off for Chevron. During just three months of 2008, Chevron raked in $7.9 billion in profits – more than doubling their profits from a year earlier.

Chevron’s abuse of corporate tax breaks is costing us all. Because Chevron’s not paying its fair share, we’re looking at fewer teachers in our classrooms, fewer firefighters and police protecting our families, and almost a million more kids without health insurance.

We hope you can join us tomorrow to shed some light on how these corporate tax breaks are impacting all Californians. You can find all locations and times for the actions at our Facebook group, No More Budget Cuts Until Corporate Tax Breaks Are Shut Down . And if you haven’t signed the online petition to repeal corporate tax giveaways, please take a second to do so.