The grassroots anti-corporate tax-dodging group US Uncut has been quite busy lately—from organizing a weekend of “dance-ins” at Apple stores across the country to a “sleep-in” at a Brooklyn Bank of America. Even Fox Business News recently ran a favorable profile of US Uncut founder Carl Gibson, describing the 24-year-old as “smart, creative, college-educated — and has nothing better to do than cause trouble for big companies.”
But that trouble has only just begun. After working together back in April on a prank exposing GE’s tax-dodging efforts, US Uncut and The Yes Men are teaming up again—this time, for a trip to the Caymen Islands, which is “home” to some 19,000 registered corporations. As they explain on their Kickstarter fundraising page:
In order to understand why thousands of teachers are losing their jobs across the country, we set out to discover where the leak was in Uncle Sam’s revenue bucket… Could it be that all the money is just a few tropical waves south of Key West? Sitting in off-shore bank accounts, just waiting to be brought back to share with eager shareholders and upstanding citizens alike?
They are looking to raise $10,000 by the end of the month to finance the journey—complete with a video crew that will capture their efforts to “embarrass tax lobbyists and politicians” and “bring the money home.”
In an interview with The Nation, Gibson explained that they will be targeting companies participating in the Win America Campaign
“WAC lobbyists use language soaked in faux patriotism about how the money is ‘trapped overseas’ and the need to ‘bring the money home,’” says Gibson. “Well, we’re doing it for them. If our tax dollars are being held hostage in the Cayman Islands, then there should be a ragtag group of taxpaying citizens ready to swoop in and bring it home. And that’s what we plan to do.”