United States
How big companies won new tax breaks from the Trump administration Jesse Drucker and Jim Tankersley New York Times December 30, 2019
As the Treasury Department prepared to enact the 2017 Republican tax overhaul, corporate lobbyists swarmed — and won big.
Corporate tax avoidance in the first year of the Trump tax law Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy December 16, 2019
When drafting the tax law, lawmakers could have eliminated special breaks and loopholes in the corporate tax to offset the cost of reducing the statutory rate. Instead, the new law introduced many new breaks and loopholes, though it eliminated some old ones. The unsurprising result: Profitable American corporations in 2018 collectively paid an average effective federal income tax rate of 11.3 percent on their 2018 income, barely more than half the 21 percent statutory tax rate.
How FedEx cut its tax bill to 0 Jim Tankersley, Peter Eavis, and Ben Casselman New York Times November 17, 2019
The company, like much of corporate America, has not made good on its promised investment surge from President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. The $1.5 trillion 2017 federal tax cut reduced FedEx’s tax bill from an effective rate of 34 percent to zero. Real investment did not go up. However stock buybacks did. Companies that make up the S&P 500 index had an average effective tax rate of 18.1 percent in 2018, down from 25.9 percent in 2016.
Tainted pork, ill consumers and an investigation thwarted Matt Richtel New York Times August 4, 2019
Drug-resistant infections from food are growing. But powerful industry interests are blocking scientists and investigators from getting information they need to combat the problem.
Trump’s proposed H-2A rules would harm, not help, U.S. farm workers and reduce protections for both domestic and foreign field laborers Jocelyn Sherman United Farm Workers July 26, 2019
Trump has chosen lobbyists to run EPA, HHS, DOD, and Interior Rachel Maddow CNBC June 20, 2019
Rachel Maddow reports on the industry lobbyists running federal agencies in the Donald Trump administration and notes the irony of Trump boasting at a Florida rally of staring down lobbyists just hours after tapping former Raytheon lobbyist Mark Esper to run the Department of Defense (replacing former Boeing executive Patrick Shanahan).
Bosses pocket Trump tax windfall as workers see job promises vanish, AT&T, General Motors and Wells Fargo vowed to use tax cuts to create jobs. In fact, they did the opposite. Michael Sainto The Guardian June 16, 2019
If those who work for Uber are classified as employees of Uber and not as independent contractors, Uber (and other employers similarly situated) will have costs rise significantly because of greater protections and benefits that employees are due. Thus Uber and other companies are working to keep their workers classified as independent contractors by government agencies.
Is gig work a job? Uber and others are maneuvering to shape the answer. Noam Scheiber New York Times March 26, 2019
Scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded that two of three widely used pesticides were so toxic that they jeopardized the existence of more than 1200 endangered species, which could have led to restrictions on their use. However release of the report was blocked by political appointees.
Interior nominee intervened to block report on endangered species Eric Lipton New York Times March 26, 2019
Amazon will pay $0 in taxes on $11.2 billion of profit in 2018 Yahoo News February 16, 2019
There is a constitutional right to a fair trial. Thus people are harmed when the relevant government does not provide sufficient resources to enable people to have a fair trial.
One lawyer, 194 felony cases, and no time Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Jugal K. Patel New York Times January 31, 2019
How cities make money by fining the poor Matthew Shaer New York Times January 8, 2019
“In many parts of America, like Corinth, Miss., judges are locking up defendants who can’t pay — sometimes for months at a time.”
Other Countries
The Trump-Russia Investigation and the Mafia state Masha Gessen The New Yorker January 31, 2019
“Magyar describes the Mafia state as one run by a “patron” and his “court”—put another way, the boss and his clan—who appropriate public resources and the institutions of the state for their private use and profit.”