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Report | CALPIRG | Budget

Picking Up the Tab 2013

Academic studies conclude tax haven abuse costs the United States approximately $150 billion in tax revenues every year. Multinational corporations account for $90 billion and individuals the rest.  Even when tax haven abusers act perfectly legally, they force other Americans to shoulder their tax burden. Every dollar in taxes they avoid by using tax havens must be balanced by other Americans paying higher taxes, coping with cuts to government programs, or increasing the federal debt. 

 

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Budget

New Report: California Receives an “F” in Annual Report on Transparency of Government Spending

California received an “F” when it comes to government spending transparency, according to “Following the Money 2013: How the States Rank on Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data,” the fourth annual report of its kind by the CALPIRG Education Fund.  

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Budget

Following the Money 2013

Every year, state governments spend tens of billions of dollars through contracts with private entities for goods and services, subsidies to encourage economic development, grants, and other forms of spending. Accountability and public scrutiny are necessary to ensure that state funds are well spent. In comparison to the other 49 states, California is failing to provide taxpayers with transparency in government spending. 

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Free Cookies - Strings Attached | Jon Fox

The price consumers pay to access most online content is the tracking of their every click on the World Wide Web by data miners and ad networks. Consumer and privacy advocates are seeking to address such online tracking through Do-Not-Track regulation.

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

New FTC Report Highlights Top 10 Consumer Complaints for 2012.

California sees big increase in fraud and identity theft complaints.

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Media Hit | Budget

The Conversation: Tax havens let billions vanish into thin air

Pulitzer Prize wining author David Cay Johnston uses our report for the theme in his op-ed, explaining how ordinary taxpayers bear the cost of tax havens and loopholes "through higher state taxes, fewer services or the state taking on more debt to fund current operations".
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/17/5194645/tax-havens-let-billions-vanish....

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Health Care

Anthem hikes rates 22%

Anthem Blue Cross is moving forward with a new rate hike on California consumers which will leave hundreds of thousands of individuals paying an average 22 percent more for insurance this year. Anthem had proposed raising rates 26 percent, but trimmed the rate to 22 percent after the California Department of Insurance (CDI) found the original increase unreasonable.

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Media Hit | Health Care

Letter to the Editor: Why healthcare costs so much

Wesley Samms' letter to the editor regarding the recent LA Times article: "Small surgery, huge markup," Business, Jan. 31

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Tax

Offshore Tax Dodging Blows a $7 Billion Hole in California Budget:

Sacramento, February 5th – With California “on the move” with its budget CALPIRG released a new study revealing that California lost $7.147 Billion due to offshore tax dodging in 2012. Many of America’s wealthiest individuals and largest corporations, including Wells Fargo in California, use tax loopholes to shift profits made in America to offshore tax havens, where they pay little to no taxes.

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Media Hit | Budget

Editorial: City gets poor grade for transparency

In a report out this month, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group ranked Sacramento next to last among 30 large cities in providing online databases of its spending with "checkbook level" detail. The study also looked at how easily residents can track their service requests online.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland 2012

Survey Finds Dangerous Toys on Store Shelves. CALPIRG Provides Shopping Tips & Mobile Website To Help Parents Shop Safe.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Financial Reform

Big Banks Bigger Fees 2012

A survey of hundreds of banks and credit unions in 24 states and the District of Columbia found that free checking remains available at more than 6 out of 10 small banks and credit unions but was only found at one-quarter of surveyed big banks (those with over $10 billion in deposits). The survey released today by the California Public Interest Research Group also revealed that fewer than half of branches surveyed obeyed their legal duty to fully disclose fees to prospective customers on the first request, while 12% provided no fee information at all. 

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Food, Tax

Apples to Twinkies 2012

At a time when America is facing an obesity epidemic, crushing debt and a weak economy, billions of taxpayer dollars are subsidizing junk food ingredients.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection, Health Care

Your Price May Vary

New report finds that the price charged for common surgeries varies dramatically from one region to another within California.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Still @ Risk

New Report on technology & identity theft shows that California victims lost more money in identity theft cases Investigated in 2011 than in previous year.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

On the Internet, Everyone Knows If You're A Big Dog, Or Just A Dog | Ed Mierzwinski

A Wall Street Journal story today has everyone talking about how Internet sites use profiles and cookies to offer different customers different offers, or the same product for different prices. On the Internet today, everybody knows whether you're a big dog, or just a dog.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

As Wireless Plans Change, Consumers Are Priced Out

Verizon announced earlier this week that they would no longer be offering customers cheaper options for limited voice and text plans, shifting to unlimited voice and text minutes instead. While this change may benefit families or business on shared accounts, it will lead to price hikes for most individual smart-phone users.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

IPv6 Day - The Most Important Day You Never Heard Of | Jon Fox

Today marks the beginning of one of the greatest technological overhauls since mankind adopted paper money, with grave implications towards online privacy.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection, Health Care

The Almighty Dollar before Health and Safety of Americans | Jon Fox

A recent op-ed is completely correct in its assumptions that anti-regulations rhetoric from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is incessantly talking about regulations killing jobs and the economy.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection, Food

STATMENT: US Senate Approves FDA Safety and Innovation Act | Jon Fox

The US Senate Passage of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) not Strong Enough to Ensure Sufficient Consumer Safety from Drugs and Medical devices.

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  • Apples To Twinkies
    Find out how government subsidies disproportionately benefit junk food over fresh fruit and vegetables.
    Get the report
  • Bigger Banks, Bigger Fees
    Our survey found that more than half of banks are not entirely upfront about their fees. Some even broke the law.
    Get the report
  • DANGEROUS TOYS ON STORE SHELVES?
    Find out what to watch out for — from toxic chemicals to choking hazards — in our “Trouble In Toyland” report.
    Get the report

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