I have waited tables and bartended for over 5 years. Many members of the service industry, myself included, have been victims of tip/wage violations, due to the relaxed enforcement and loose rules pertaining to tip wage and tipping. Tips are not guaranteed, and depend on the generosity of the customers, assuming they know how tip wage works.

Connecticut has one of the highest gasoline and diesel taxes in New England and has the ninth highest gasoline tax in the nation. Governor Malloy started off 2018 by announcing his plan to increase the gasoline and diesel tax by 7cpg, creating a new $3 tax on each tire sold in CT, in addition to funding the special transportation fund (STF) through implementing tolls. It's time to communicate to the state that we cannot afford any additional tax at the pump. Help rely this message by signing this petition to stop the gasoline tax increase and toll implementation.

Right now, huge corporations, like Walmart, are getting tax breaks for handing out obscene CEO bonuses. The tax code sets a $1 million limit per executive for the amount of pay that corporations can write off their income taxes. But the problem is that there’s a loophole that exempts “performance-based” pay. So, corporations are shelling out huge CEO bonuses to pay less in taxes. For example, during the past six years, Walmart pocketed $298.6 million in fully deductible “performance pay,” lowering the company’s federal tax bills by $104 million. At a time when so many Americans are struggling to find well-paying jobs and pay for basic things like healthcare, education, and housing, it’s wrong and unacceptable to give corporations tax breaks for shelling out multi-million dollar CEO bonuses. It’s time to close this performance pay loophole and end tax incentives for outrageous CEO pay.

Some members of Congress have been up to something that's unpatriotic: They want to create a tax "holiday" for huge corporations that have been stashing profits offshore to get out of paying their fair share of taxes here at home. Let’s tell Congress to fix our infrastructure by making sure that corporations pay their fair share of taxes. Big corporations from Apple to General Electric to Bank of America have more than $2 trillion in profits offshore, much of it in tax havens. They're eventually supposed to bring most of those profits home and pay U.S. taxes on them, but get this: There's no deadline for them to do so. These corporations are heavily lobbying Congress to let them bring those profits back to the U.S. at a tax rate that's just a fraction of what they would normally pay. The last time there was a special tax holiday like this, they paid a tax rate of 5.25% -- a small fraction of the official 35% corporate income tax rate. Meanwhile, our roads and bridges are crumbling, and the Highway Trust Fund that helps us repair and upgrade them will lose 30% of its funding in August. Some construction projects will stop, and we could lose 700,000 jobs. In a sense, we'll have a highway shutdown, like we had a government shutdown last fall. Some members of Congress want to pretend that giving corporations a huge break on their taxes is a smart way to fix our infrastructure. Democrats like Rep. Chris Van Hollen (MD) and Rep. Sander Levin (MI) want to save the Highway Trust Fund by making it even harder for corporations to shift profits offshore in the first place by changing their corporate address to a tax haven. Tell Congress: Big corporations depend on our roads and bridges, too. Make them keep their profits in the U.S. and pay their fair share of taxes. They owe our country. They should pay their fair share like we all do.

Largely on the basis of Dykhoff (December 2013), the Work Comp judge decided (June 2014) against my wife Mariani's case of slip-and-fall at St. Cloud Hospital. The Mn Supreme Court should reverse its decision on Dykhoff under pressure from Mn Senate and House of Representatives. The purpose of Work Comp in Mariani's case, too, was not fully served. There is no such thing as a no-fault claim in work related injuries for many Minnesotans anymore. Protections for employees from employers should remain in place or unfair practices will prevail.

Congress has acted forcefully to bail out Wall Street from the ravages of the Great Recession, but little has been done to help Main Street. Meanwhile, our education ranking has fallen to #33 in the world, income inequality is #44, infrastructure is #23, and labor participation has declined to 63.2%. Just as we outlawed cartels that monopolized competition in 1890, it is time to outlaw dodgy tax haven practices that allow corporations to evade billions in taxes and have beggered communities across the land.

We see the tax burden shifting to the poor. "Full-time workers earning between $20,000 and $150,000 a year – still pay at up to double the rate of the ultra-wealthy, relative to what history suggests they should" (Von Worley, 2011). A significant tax cut in Ohio will shift $400 million away from public services and into wealthy pockets in 2015: "The top 1 percent will get a tax cut for the year averaging $1,846, while the poorest fifth of Ohioans will see just a $4 reduction" (Policy Matters Ohio, 2014; See also photobucket). Many of the wealthy make such an excess of money that they are determining laws and Supreme Court legal decisions "through the back door". Congress persons must take action to raise the tax rate on the wealthy so the the American people can decide how to distribute all that excess wealth and what fair laws should be written -- independently of financial influence. References Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. (2013, August). Photobucket/Ohio Budget. Retrieved from http://s1350.photobucket.com/user/akadjian/media/Ohio%20Budget/osac-03_zps51683ebe.jpg.html Policy Matters Ohio. (2014, May 27). Flawed tax cuts in Senate budget bill. Retrieved from http://www.policymattersohio.org/senate-budget-may2014 Von Worley, S. (2011, March 15). Data pointed. Shifting burdens: U.S. Taxes by income level over the years. Retrieved from http://www.datapointed.net/2011/03/relative-us-income-taxes-1913-2011/

My name is Cory McCray and I just won a primary election to serve the hardworking families of Baltimore City. That commitment starts now. Many of Johns Hopkins Hospital's employees earn a starting salary of $11 per hour—not enough to afford even the most basic household needs in the Baltimore area. After demonstrations and strikes, Johns Hopkins Hospital administration offered a 1.75% pay increase over the next four years. For workers making $11 per hour, that equates to a less than 20-cent-per-hour increase. Johns Hopkins Hospital has a global reputation for excellence in medical research and patient care. However, for the people who work there, Johns Hopkins Hospital is best known for it insufficient wages. Stand with me to demand that Johns Hopkins Hospital does right by their workers and pays a fair living wage.

The design district in San Francisco is fighting to save our community and industry. Big tech has infiltrated our neighborhood and increased commercial rent by over 300%. The SFDC building owners want to push us out and displace an entire network of thriving businesses in order to capitalize on higher rents. We will lose good paying blue collar PDR jobs in San Francisco. The landmark status change will displace an entire ecosystem of women-owned and LGBT friendly businesses.

For 5 years now Governor Christie has cut taxes for the rich at the same time he cut services for the rest of us. The result is soaring deficits, reduced credit ratings, and un-employment higher than New York, Pennsylvania, and 40 other states. It is time to reverse course and ask those who have profited most by his policies to help those who have been hurt.

I am personally affected by this law. I have a possession with intent charge from 1991 and a obstructing justice charge from 2006. I went to addiction treatment and returned to school to earn a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and I am currently in my second year of working on my Master of Science in Counseling. I have worked hard, as others have, to change my life. I am so frustrated because after all of my hard work, I am still unable to gain employment because of my record. I have paid my dues and proven that I am rehabilitated!

Computer programming skills requires a high degree of intelligence and a college education. US citizens become IT specialists because they like to create technology and utilize its wonders. IT specialists also expect to make a decent living, an above average living for their knowledge and expertise. Instead corporate america in cooperation with the congress, mostly republicans - democrats included, Obama especially, are in favor of this constant influx of H1-B workers and an incredible amount of loop holes. The level of this influx is staggering. American workers are told to train their replacements, then lose there job to a non-US citizen. The results are devastating to American workers, and NOBODY is standing for them - jobs destroyed, more IT workers lives ruined. This is a petition to eliminate loopholes in the H1B program and levy higher taxes on employers who hire people with H1B status. The on going H1B program has resulted in a downward trend for information technology professionals. Low salaried H1B staff has destroyed the IT profession and companies all over the country are replacing their existing workforce with H1B candidates. People have been forced to train their replacements, accept significantly lower salaries, and no longer be given respect within the work place. An insider-outsider culture is now prevalent. Give Americans back their IT careers and stop giving preference for H1B candidates. I cannot think of any other country in the world that treats its own citizens in such a terrible way.