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Report | ConnPIRG Education Fund | Democracy

Auctioning Democracy

A new report by ConnPIRG Education Fund and Demos shows an analysis of the funding sources for the campaign finance behemoths, Super PACs. The findings confirmed what many have predicted in the wake of the Supreme Court’s damaging Citizens United decision: since their inception in 2010, Super PACs have been primarily funded by a small segment of very wealthy individuals and business interests, with a small but significant amount of funds coming from secret sources.

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News Release | ConnPIRG Education Fund | Democracy

New Report Released: Auctioning Democracy

Today ConnPIRG Education Fund and Demos released a new analysis of the funding sources for the campaign finance behemoths, Super PACs. The findings confirmed what many have predicted in the wake of the Supreme Court’s damaging Citizens United decision: since their inception in 2010, Super PACs have been primarily funded by a small segment of very wealthy individuals and business interests, with a small but significant amount of funds coming from secret sources.

> Keep Reading
News Release | ConnPIRG and Citizens for Tax Justice | Financial Reform

Thirty Fortune 500 Companies Paid More to Lobby Congress than they Did in Federal Income Taxes

With the second anniversary approaching of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case – which opened the floodgates to corporate spending on elections – Connecticut Public Interest Research Group (ConnPIRG) and Citizens for Tax Justice reveal 30 corporations that spent more to lobby Congress than they did in taxes.

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Blog Post | Ed's Blog

SOPA and PIPA stop innovation and freedom and harm consumers without stopping online piracy | Ed Mierzwinski

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and powerful music, film and publishing titans have gone too far in demanding that the Internet as we know it -- an engine of innovation, freedom, democracy, commerce, idea-sharing and entrepreneurship -- be throttled down so that their legitimate problems with offshore pirates can supposedly be solved. They think every problem is a nail but their only tool is a hammer, a sledgehammer. Their bills won't hammer the nail, but they will hammer you, me and the Internet.

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Report | ConnPIRG and Citizens for Tax Justice | Financial Reform

Representation Without Taxation

Marking the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission case, this report takes a hard look at the lobbying activities of profitable Fortune 500 companies that exploit loopholes and distort the tax code to avoid billions of dollars in taxes.

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News Release | Financial Reform

House Kneecaps Wall Street Reform Funding, But Goal is Worse

New In the Public Interest column today on The Huffington Post by Ed Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director for U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG).

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News Release | Health Care

Effective State Exchanges Key to Lower Health Costs for Consumers

Policy-makers can address rising health care costs by implementing effective health insurance exchanges, according to the first in a new series of policy briefs released today by ConnPIRG, a consumer advocacy group.

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News Release | Transportation

Obama Budget Seeks Major Boost in Transportation Investment

HARTFORD - Statement by ConnPIRG's Federal Senior Tax and Budget Analyst, Phineas Baxandall, on the Obama administration’s FY 2012 transportation budget proposal, which includes a major increase in transportation funding and an $8 billion annual investment in high-speed rail. 

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News Release | Food, Tax

Obama Budget Proposes Important First Cuts to Ag Subsidies

Statement of ConnPIRG Federal Public Health Advocate Elizabeth Hitchcock on the President’s proposed 2012 budget, which includes more than $1 billion in cuts over five years to agriculture subsidies that are achieved by reducing the cap on Department of Agriculture direct payments and tightening eligibility standards.

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News Release | Transportation

ConnPIRG, Hartford Students Praise Obama Administration for Kick-Starting High Speed Rail in Connecticut

Connecticut students are on board for bringing a stronger, faster rail system to the state, which will connect them to their hometowns, reduce congestion, oil use, and carbon emissions. While there is much still to be done, the Obama administration’s recent decision to award $40 million in high speed rail funds to Connecticut is the first step in making this a reality.

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Report | Consumer Protection

Tax Shell Game: What Do Tax Dodgers Cost You?

Many corporations operating in the United States funnel money through offshore tax havens in order to avoid paying billions in U.S. taxes. In fact, an independent study found that nearly two-thirds of corporations pay no taxes at all. Goldman Sachs, which received a $10 billion taxpayer bailout, managed to get their effective tax rate down to one percent by utilizing maneuvers they describe as “changes in geographic earnings mix.”

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Report | Transportation

What We Learned From the Stimulus

The latest data on stimulus spending show that funds spent on public transportation were a more effective job creator than stimulus funds spent on highways. In the 10 months since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed, investing in public transportation produced twice as many jobs per dollar as investing in roads:

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Report | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland: the 24th Annual Survey of Toy Safety

The 2009 Trouble in Toyland report is the 24th annual Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) survey of toy safety. This report provides safety guidelines for parents when purchasing toys for small children and provides examples of toys currently on store shelves that may pose potential safety hazards.

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Report | Health Care

Uncovered: How America's Health Care System Fails Young People

Few issues are more highly charged than health care, as it touches each of our lives in very personal, critically important ways. As a result, this year's public conversation around health care reform has elicited viewpoints, opinions, and analysis from almost every corner of society.

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Report | Transportation

Greasing the Wheels

In the wake of the Minnesota I-35 bridge collapse there was enormous public outcry and recognition of the need to repair our crumbling infrastructure. Americans expected public officials to respond to the tragedy with a large scale effort to address the nearly 73,000 structurally deficient bridges in this country, 358 of which are in Connecticut. The findings in this report suggest that did not happen.

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Tools & Resources

  • The Zero Waste Solution
    Connecticut burns more trash per person than any other state in the country. If we don’t improve recycling rates, we’ll run out of landfill space for incinerator ash in six years.
    Learn More
  • STOP TAX DODGERS
    Corporate tax avoidance cost taxpayers $100 billion last year. We're working to close the loopholes that allow companies to avoid paying the taxes they owe.
    Take Action
  • YOUR TAX DOLLARS BECOME CORN SYRUP
    At a time when one-in-three kids is overweight or obese, over a billion taxpayer dollars go to high-fructose corn syrup and junk food ingredients.
    Learn more
    Take Action
  • Reclaim Democracy
    The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision ushered in an era of unprecedented spending by big money in our elections, but we're working to return our democracy back to the principle of "one person, one vote."
    ADD YOUR VOICE

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