• Just say "no" to more tax breaks for Illinois companies.
    Archer Daniels Midland, a highly profitable company, is demanding over $20 million in tax breaks to keep its headquarters in Illinois. With net profits of $1.7 billion dollars in 2012, on which they paid state taxes of less than 1% instead of the statutory requirement of 9 1/2%, ADM does not need more tax breaks. Their spokesperson admitted as much when it was said that the only reason they are requesting a tax break is because Illinois set a "precedent" by giving other profitable companies undeserved tax breaks. With Illinois financial situation in a state of crisis, it is time to break with that precedent and say "no" to tax breaks for profitable companies.
    128 of 200 Signatures
    Created by ron kurowski
  • USSBDC's Small Business Limited Tax Exemption Petition
    The goal is to stimulate private enterprise success, job growth and entrepreneur education. Many small businesses fail as a result of lacking federal support. This will assure every community has the ability to thrive. This will also encourage transparency in reporting and give alternative savings leading to stronger long term establishments. USSBDC
    14 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Dr. Alex'ander Wilson
  • A better budget process
    Government shutdowns cost us a lot of money (approximately $24B for the most recent shutdown Oct 1-16, 2013), disrupts average citizens' livelihoods and lowers our economic output. By keeping the current budget until another one is agreed upon, the government should not have to shutdown while Congress works towards consensus on the next budget.
    11 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Joe McFerran
  • Replace the Income Tax with a Fairtax or with a consumption tax. Remove ALL tax loopholes. This...
    Because it is time that we get 100% participation when it comes to paying for government services.
    16 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Byron
  • Close Tax Loopholes Now!
    As off budget spending, tax exemptions lack the accountability that other state spending undergoes when the state approves its biennial budget. Tax exemptions are expenditures of state money that would otherwise be available to fund state services. Tax exemptions reduce available funds for education, health care and other important state services. Many tax exemptions are actually tax loopholes that benefit special interests but don't meet state priorities for funding. Tuition doubled for my son and daughter between when they started college and graduated. Washington State needs to provide sufficient revenue to keep college affordable for all students so we have an educated workforce for the future. Washington State currently has over 650 tax exemptions. According to the State Department of Revenue in the last biennium, while Washington State collected some $21 billion in B&O, sales and use taxes, it excluded from collection over $20 billion in tax exemptions. The system is broken when if everyone paid the same in taxes, the state would have twice as much revenue.. Requiring that the Washington State Legislature adopt a Tax Expenditure Budget every two years as part of the biennial budget process would make tax exemptions more transparent and accountable to Washington taxpayers. The Legislature needs to prioritize tax exemptions and close tax loopholes not meeting state needs. Creating a Tax Expenditure Budget detailing the tax expenditures (exemptions) and the amount of revenue the Legislature is not collecting, will help Legislators to prioritize closing tax loopholes not meeting state priorities and needs. Petition by Steve Zemke, Director Tax Sanity www.taxsanity.org
    265 of 300 Signatures
    Created by Steve Zemke
  • Let's fix our unfair tax system in Washington State
    In Washington State, the middle class and poor pay a higher percentage of their income in state taxes than do the rich, due to a reliance on the regressive sales tax to fund state government. Even the Business and Occupation tax is regressive: it taxes revenue, not profit, and so it favors profitable corporations over struggling small businesses. Another cause of unfairness is the existence of tax loopholes for certain wealthy corporations. In fact, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Washington State has the most regressive tax system in the nation. The poorest 20% of non-elderly Washingtonians pay 17% of their income in state taxes; the richest 1% pay under 3% of their income in state taxes. (Source: http://www.itep.org/pdf/wa.pdf .) The state desperately needs a reliable source of funds to pay for education pursuant to the State Supreme Court decision in the McCleary case, which declares that the legislature is underfunding K-12 education. Additionally, in recent years the state has had to slash funding for social services and for higher education, causing real suffering among vulnerable people, threatening our prosperity and safety, and drastically raising the cost of a college education. Voters in 2010 rejected I-1098, the initiative to establish a high earners' income tax in Washington State. Most voters were voting against their own self-interest, because only the richest 2% of citizens would have seen their taxes rise. But up until now, only a few advocacy groups have spoken up about this issue. Our political leaders should make the effort to educate the public about all the ways we need government and about progressive taxation. In other words, our political leaders should actually lead and not just follow. There are proposals afloat to raise the gas tax and to pass a carbon tax; both of those are regressive. A capital gains tax and a tax expenditure budget are also under consideration. These changes to our tax system deserve thorough discussion and analysis. The proposed high level commission, hearings, speeches and essays will help move the state towards a sustainable and equitable funding model. Note: this petition was co-authored with Steve Zemke of TaxSanity.org . For discussion of this effort, please visit: https://groups.google.com/d/forum/wafairtaxes http://fairtaxesnow.us/ To see the list of signers and their comments, please visit: http://waliberals.org/WATaxFixers.html Here is a resolution which your political organization might pass: http://waliberals.org/resolution-in-support-of-fixing-washington-states-unfair-tax-system/2013/11/19/
    4,082 of 5,000 Signatures
    Created by Donald A. Smith
  • If you signed the UPS petition and support UAW efforts at VW, sign this also! Back the NLRB and ...
    There is a strong feeling among workers today that they would be willing to support a union and even join or organize one in their workplaces. It is a known fact that the business lobby and their GOP allies have met Labor with resistance and pushback over many decades, eroding hard-won rights that have proven beneficial to everyone who works. Therefore, We the People, in order to form a more perfect Union, call upon You, Mr. President, to issue three (3) separate Executive Orders, the first of which would prohibit the destructive so-called Right to Work laws in all states across the country. The second request is for an order mandating the all-but forgotten EFCA bill, and the third would mandate the posting of workers' rights under Section 7 of the NLRA. The troops are ready to go.
    593 of 600 Signatures
    Created by Kevin Boston
  • Remove Requirement to Increase the Debt Ceiling
    The appropriate time to discuss the level of government spending is at the time of budget negotiations. The need to increase the debt ceiling has become a dangerous tool in the hands of a small minority who have shown themselves capable of harming not only our economy but also the world economy in order to achieve their goal of small government.
    121 of 200 Signatures
    Created by Nancy Brandt
  • Don’t let GE dump Ft. Edward jobs
    I grew up in this area and have lived here all my life. We didn’t have much growing up -- I remember Christmas with very few presents. I want to give my kids a better life, and working at GE, I’m on my way to doing that, but only if the plant stays open. There aren’t a lot of other good jobs around here. I started working at GE eight years ago. I just got onto first shift, so now I can go to my son’s hockey games and help my daughter with her homework. If they close the plant, I’ll probably have to go back to working two jobs, working off shifts, only seeing my family on the weekend if at all. None of us are getting rich working at GE. We’re not stashing away money in offshore tax havens or buying yachts, we’re spending money at local businesses. If GE destroys 200 good-paying jobs here in Fort Edward, it’s going to hurt small business and devastate the local economy. I’ve worked hard, I’ve never slacked. Every year this plant has been profitable. GE should keep this plant open, and our politicians should stand up and do everything they can to save our jobs. It’s only right.
    923 of 1,000 Signatures
    Created by Roger Harrington
  • The cost of fast food wages
    Recently released research shows how low-wage, no-benefit fast food jobs force workers to rely on public assistance programs, leaving our tax-dollars to foot the bill-- to the tune of $708 million. If you think it’s outrageous that our tax dollars are being used to line the pockets of fast food corporations instead of going to schools, park and other public services that would benefit all New Yorkers, sign our petition to the members of the New York State Legislature demanding they investigate this fast food swindle.
    4,227 of 5,000 Signatures
    Created by Shentia Simon, Fast Food Forward
  • .@nytimes, @Sulliview: Put Budget Numbers in Context
    [UPDATE: New York Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan has responded to this petition: "The Times Is Working on Ways to Make Numbers-Based Stories Clearer for Readers" http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/the-times-is-working-on-ways-to-make-numbers-based-stories-clearer-for-readers] Economist Dean Baker writes: "It is the media’s job to inform the public about the budget. They are clearly failing badly. A major reason is very simple. When they write about the budget they almost never put the numbers in context. As a result, readers might hear that we’re spending $15 billion on foreign aid or $400 million on the CPB [Corporation for Public Broadcasting] and think that this is a lot of money...But it is not a lot of money for the federal government. This point would be immediately apparent in every news report on the budget if the standard practice were to report budget items as a share of the budget instead of in dollar terms. Telling readers that spending on CPB takes up 0.012 percent of the budget immediately tells them how important this spending is to the government. Telling readers that we’re spending $400 million on CPB tells the overwhelming majority of readers almost nothing... Fortunately the New York Times has a public editor, Margaret Sullivan, who takes journalistic standards seriously. There is good reason to believe that if enough people were to raise this issue with her that she would look into the issue and press the matter with the paper’s editors. If the New York Times were to change its practice for budget reporting most of the rest of the media would almost certainly follow. The NYT is recognized as the preeminent newspaper in the country. Their standards are taken seriously by everyone." -"The Tea Party and the New York Times Shut Down the Government," Dean Baker, Truthout, 14 October 2013 http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/19402-the-tea-party-and-the-new-york-times-shut-down-the-government
    20,303 of 25,000 Signatures
    Created by Robert Naiman
  • Stop the Fast Food Swindle
    A report came out October 15 showing that 52% of fast food employees’ families are forced to rely on social safety net programs, like Food Stamps or Medicaid, because we’re paid so little. And it costs taxpayers an unthinkable $7 BILLION each year. That means your household forks over about $61 a year so that McDonald’s can rake in $5.5 billion and pay their CEO millions. We don’t want to rely on public assistance -- we would much rather receive an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s (hard!) work. But we have kids to feed, families to support and have no other choice. It’s not okay. And I hope you’ll help us change it today. Tell the top eight fast food chains to pay us $15 an hour so we don’t have to rely on social safety net programs
    50,337 of 75,000 Signatures
    Created by Nancy Salgado, Low Pay Is Not Ok