September 10, 2008
Win $5,000 in the Tax Foundation's CompeteUSA Video Contest
Tax Foundation Launches YouTube Video Contest: Best Entry Showing Impact of High Business Taxes on U.S. Jobs, Wages, and Productivity to Win $5,000
Washington, DC, September 10, 2008 - The Tax Foundation today announced a new YouTube video contest aimed primarily at students and young professionals as part of its CompeteUSA campaign to raise awareness of America's high business tax rates and how those taxes have an impact on our competitiveness, wages, and living standards. The winner will earn $5,000 while second and third prize winners will receive $1,000 and $500, respectively.
The rules are simple: the video must be no shorter than 1 minute and no longer than 3 minutes and must be submitted on the following YouTube Group site by 11:59 PM EST on October 15, 2008: http://www.youtube.com/group/competeusa. There is a limit of one video per individual.
After submission of videos, contestants must submit basic information to Matt Moon, Manager of Media Relations at the Tax Foundation, at moon@taxfoundation.org. This would include a name, email, daytime/evening phone numbers, and address.
The video must stick to the subject of the Tax Foundation's CompeteUSA project: raising public awareness of America's high business taxes and how those taxes are affecting our competitiveness, wages, and living standards. The judges will be looking for that right mix of humor and street-smart savvy about what impacts the jobs, wages, and productivity of our current and future workers, and what we can do to create better opportunities for all Americans. (No employee, former employee, or immediate family member of an employee of the Tax Foundation may enter the contest.) The winner, as determined by a panel of Tax Foundation experts, will award the prize.
The CompeteUSA campaign launch comes on the heels of new data showing that the United States has the second-highest corporate income tax rate in the industrialized world, and that the American worker shoulders a disproportionate amount of the corporate tax. In fact, the poorest 20 percent of households pay more in corporate income taxes each year than they pay in individual income taxes, and corporate taxes were 6.3 percent of low-income households' tax bills last year compared to just 4 percent for individual income taxes.
"Too often our political debates focus on the next election but ignore the next generation, so we're enlisting the help of America's youth to make their voice heard about our economy," noted Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge. "And to incentivize people to take this seriously, we're offering a $5,000 prize for the best short video to be displayed on our YouTube page. This is a fun way to make a point, but also to make some money for college."
The Tax Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that has monitored fiscal policy at the federal, state and local levels since 1937.
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Scott Hodge is president of the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that has monitored fiscal policy at the federal, state and local levels since 1937. For additional information on the contest, including all rules and restrictions, please log on to http://www.taxfoundation.org/competeusa/ or call Matt Moon, Manager of Media Relations, at (202) 464-5102.