Taxpayer Group: Leaders Should Stop GM From Bailing Out European Car Company With U.S. Tax Dollars

November 6, 2009

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hot on the heels of news that General Motors would not seek to sell off German automaker Opel and would instead seek taxpayer subsidies from European countries or use U.S. bailout funds to help prop up the firm, the 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) today urged governments abroad to reject GM's pleas. NTU Vice President for Policy and Communications Pete Sepp offered the following statement regarding GM's decision:

"This week Government Motors announced that it had changed its mind, and was keeping the German automaker Opel.

In order to do that, GM has requested $4.43 billion in taxpayer bailouts from European governments, including Germany, Poland, the U.K., and Spain. Incredibly, Opel already has $2.23 billion in loans from the German government to keep it afloat.

But now we learn that GM may spend some of the $50 billion in U.S. taxpayers' money to prop up this European car company.

And this isn't the first time GM has created jobs overseas since the bailout. In recent months, GM has announced investments of $1.2 billion in Mexico, $293 million in China, and $413 million in Korea.

All this while GM plans to lay off 21,000 U.S. workers this year.

It's all well and good when a U.S.-based company decides to do business in other countries. It's a choice that managers and stockholders make every day. But did American taxpayers, who were forced to become shareholders in GM, really sign up to pay for all these overseas activities? Did anyone ask them?"

NTU is a nonpartisan, nonprofit citizen organization founded in 1969 to work for lower taxes, smaller government, accountability from public officials, and economic freedom at all levels. In 2008 and 2009, the group actively opposed both the automaker bailout by mobilizing its members in email alerts, conducting talk radio interviews, issuing vote alerts to lawmakers, and lobbying Congressional staff face-to-face. Note: For further information, visit www.ntu.org.

SOURCE National Taxpayers Union