New Posts

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

  UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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New Report: Tax Fairness -- Not a Tax Holiday -- Is the Best Way to Fund Our Infrastructure and Create Middle-Class Jobs

WASHINGTON, April 1, 2015—President Obama has just sent Congress a bill that would replenish the Highway Trust Fund through a 14 percent tax on offshore corporate profits. There is bipartisan support for even deeper tax cuts for companies that have stockpiled profits in tax havens, where they remain untaxed until "repatriated" to the United States. A new report, to be released April 1 by the Center for Effective Government and the Institute for Policy Studies, reveals why such tax breaks would be dangerously short-sighted.

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Paying CEOs More than Uncle Sam

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2014—Of America’s 30 largest corporations, seven paid their CEOs more last year than they paid in federal income taxes, according to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies and the Center for Effective Government. The report, Fleecing Uncle Sam, also looks at the 100 highest-paid CEOs in 2013, finding that 29 received more in pay than their company paid in federal income taxes – up from 25 out of the top 100 in our 2010 and 2011 surveys. These 29 companies operate 237 subsidiaries in tax havens.

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What We Could Invest In if We Ended Special Corporate Tax Breaks

Services for American families have been under constant attack over the past several years. Head Start slots were cut, Meals on Wheels deliveries were curtailed, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has been squeezed. House leaders have repeatedly insisted the country cannot afford such programs while continuing to push forward hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks for corporations. What could we as a nation invest in if we ended these special tax favors?

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Rating RATE Participants: Government's Largest Contractors in Corporate Tax Cut Coalition

Reforming America's Taxes Equitably, or RATE Coalition, is a corporate lobby group made up of 29 major corporations and two trade associations. Formed last year, the RATE Coalition has been increasingly active in pressing Congress to cut corporate income tax rates from current levels. But a number of the companies involved in the coalition benefit from the very revenue stream they're seeking to shrink.

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The Disappearing Corporate Tax Base: How to Reclaim Lost Tax Revenue to Rebuild State Budgets

American states and cities and the people who live in them are hurting. States and cities were ravaged by the Great Recession of 2007-2009. While the recession is officially over, its damage remains deeply felt in families and communities across America. More than 10 million Americans remain out of work, nearly half of them for more than six months. More than half a million state and local public jobs disappeared because of budget cuts and have not been refilled.

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New Report: Shrinking Corporate Tax Base is Wreaking Havoc on State Budgets

WASHINGTON, March 27, 2014—A new report published today by Center for Effective Government and National People’s Action uncovers how the shrinking corporate tax base is driving critical budget shortfalls and service cuts at the state and federal level. The report outlines exactly how much revenue has been lost due to a precipitous decline in corporate income tax rates and an explosion of loopholes. The report shows that since the recession, corporate income tax revenues have shrunk considerably, despite soaring profits, leaving individuals to pick up the slack.

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A Tale of Two Corporate Tax Plans

Last month, House Ways and Means Chairman David Camp (R-MI) released his long awaited tax reform package. In it, he proposed overhauling the corporate tax code, eliminating many deductions and loopholes.

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Q & A With Thomas Hungerford: Why a Corporate Tax Holiday Is a Bad Way to Fund Infrastructure

Legislation that would fund infrastructure projects through a controversial way of generating revenue is being considered in Congress and has picked up a substantial amount of bipartisan support. While expanding investments in infrastructure is popular with many as a way to meet pressing national needs and create jobs, why is the legislation so controversial?

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State of the Union: What the President Should Say about Inequality and Fiscal Policy

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a "bully pulpit" as "a public office or position of authority that provides its occupant with an outstanding opportunity to speak out on any issue." President Theodore Roosevelt was the first to call the White House a bully pulpit, and he and other heads of the executive branch have used it as a platform to raise the profile of various issues and push forward an agenda for change. The most regular, high-profile instance of highlighting priority issues is the annual "State of the Union" address (President Franklin Delano Roosevelt first called it that in 1934), where the president addresses a joint session of Congress huddled together in the House chamber.

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Expiring Help for the Unemployed or Expiring Tax Breaks: What Will Congress Extend?

December was a tough month for those down on their luck. More than a million long-term unemployed workers, having already been out of work for at least six months, saw their unemployment insurance abruptly cut off. Just weeks before this happened, federal food assistance for children, seniors, and people with disabilities was reduced. Job growth was anemic, and the unemployment rate fell because many people simply stopped looking for work (and so moved from "unemployed" to "out of the labor market").

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Resources & Research

Living in the Shadow of Danger: Poverty, Race, and Unequal Chemical Facility Hazards

People of color and people living in poverty, especially poor children of color, are significantly more likely...

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A Tale of Two Retirements: One for CEOs and One for the Rest of Us

The 100 largest CEO retirement funds are worth a combined $4.9 billion, equal to the entire retirement account savings of 41 percent of American fam...

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