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Target's Tax Subsidies Under Fire After Chicago Living Wage Fight
Monday, August 14, 2006In Today's Dispatch:Rewarding WorkTarget's Tax Subsidies Under Scrutiny After Chicago Living Wage FightTarget management apparently didn't get the memo. Faced with stagnating wages and increasing inequality, American workers and taxpayers are waking up to the big box gambit where irresponsible employers subsidize their low wages through favorable tax packages. When Target threatened to stop opening new stores in Chicago if the Windy City gave final approval to its ordinance requiring a living wage for retail workers (see this Dispatch for more details), it opened up a new debate over why cities are offering low-wage retail stores tax subsidies in the first place. As a new report produced by the Neighborhood Capital Budget Group documents, Target received $9.9 million in tax-increment financing (TIF) to subsidize its existing stores in Chicago. The fight has spilled over to Target's home state, Minnesota, as Good Jobs First details:
Labor is working with ACORN and TakeAction Minnesota, the latter an organization with a long history of working to pass path-breaking economic subsidy disclosure reforms in Minnesota. If Target is going to resist paying decent wages, activists in Minnesota want reforms to end subsidies for Target or any company that doesn't use public money to promote decent jobs. Increasing DemocracyPrescription Drug Data for SaleHere's a shocking fact. When doctors prescribe prescription drugs, the big drug companies get access to data on which doctors are prescribing which drugs to patients. Pharmaceutical companies then load the data up on sales reps' laptop computers to help figure out which doctors are the best targets for their next sales pitch. As detailed in the San Francisco Chronicle, when Dr. Brad Drexler, a California obstetrician, was told about this "data mining" by the drug companies, he convinced the California Medical Association (CMA) to pass a 2003 resolution demanding that the government cut off access by pharmaceutical companies' marketing divisions to these prescription records. California Assemblywoman Wilma Chan introduced AB 262 in 2003 to ban use of prescription drug data for marketing purposes, but the drug companies successfully fought to kill the bill. Multiple studies have shown that drug company marketing, which often includes gifts and other payoffs to doctors,can lead to prescriptions that are not necessarily in patients' best interests. Add in "data mining" of doctor's prescription habits and it's a recipe for bad medicine. Jamie Reidy, a former Pfizer company representative wrote in a 2005 book that: "Prescription data was our greatest tool in planning our approach to manipulating doctors." Part of the problem is that CMA's parent organization, the American Medical Association, is colluding with the prescription drug companies by supplying them with data on doctors that can be matched with drug sale information to create this trove of marketing data. The AMA makes millions of dollars selling doctor information to the drug companies, so has refused to support efforts to fix the system. Some states are saying enough is enough. Led by state Rep. Cindy Rosenwald (D-Nashua), New Hampshire enacted a law, HB 1346, this past June which bans the release of any prescription drug data for commercial use. Increasing DemocracyWaste and Abuse in Homeland Security ContractsA followup to Monday's Dispatch on waste and corruption in privatization of government services: it turns out that Accenture, the company that screwed up in taking over Texas's human services computer systems, is also a star player in a new Congressional report, Waste, Abuse, and Mismanagement of Homeland Security Contracts. In June 2004, Accenture was awarded a ten-year, $10 billion contract to implement US-VISIT, a program to collect and store personal information, fingerprints and photographs on all visitors to the United States. According to the Congressional investigation, Accenture used "out-of-date and ineffective technologies" that failed to integrate US-VISIT data effectively with other computer systems, such as FBI crime data, even as "the system’s security has multiple weaknesses that leave it vulnerable to unauthorized access." So Accenture designed a system that is both ineffective AND undermines the nation's security. And this is the company that Texas is trusting with personal data about the health care of its states' citizens? As Mike Gross, vice-president of the Texas State Employees Union, notes, "Using a company that relies on 'out-of-date and ineffective technologies' doesn't seem like a smart way to modernize Texas' health and human services delivery system." Read the whole Congressional report. It details how private contracting by the Department of Homeland Security nearly tripled in the last few years-- and the result has been a story of wasted taxpayer dollars and failed services for the public. It's a cautionary tale for states thinking about privatizing local services. Research RoundupFamily Friendly Workplaces, Land Use, Workplace Health Insurance, Dropouts, Term Limits, Voting Problems in Ohio, and Medical MalpracticeThe Center on Law And Social Policy (CLASP) has released Getting Punched: The Job and Family Clock, a policy brief detailing pressures on working families and how government can promote more family-friendly workplace policies by encouraging family leave and more flexible scheduling. Looking at land use regulations in the nation's 50 largest metropolitan regions, the Brookings Institution has released a broad survey of the different zoning, comprehensive plans, building moratoriums and other rules that shape metropolitan growth and density-- and the opportunities for housing and decent transit in these different communities. In a companion piece, researchers found that cities with the legal ability to annex land from its surrounding county have higher bond ratings and stronger fiscal health than in states that deny cities that power. According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, employees are now paying 22.1% of health insurance premiums, a major increase from the 14% of premium costs they were paying back in 1992. This is on top of increased deductibles and co-pays by employees as well. Increasing the high school and graduation rates of male students by only 5% would lead to $8 billion in savings and increased revenues to the economy, estimates a new report by the Alliance for Excellent Education. Much of the savings would come from reduced crime-related costs. Instead of increasing the power of citizen legislators as originally promised, term limits, according to a new study by The Joint Project on Term Limits, has led to a shift in power away from state legislatures towards greater executive discretion, especially in budget decisions. The report also details efforts by states with term limits to increase training of new legislators to try to counteract this loss of experience. A new report commissioned by Cuyahoga County in Ohio has found problems to be so widespread with voting technology and election training that there are fears that the problems will not be solved 2008, much less by this November's election. A study comparing attitudes of doctors in the U.S. and Canada has found that malpractice concerns do not drive lack of disclosure of medical error among doctors -- more evidence that tort reform is far from the panacea claimed by the far right. Target's Tax Subsidies Under Scrutiny After Chicago Living Wage Fight
Neighborhood Capital Budget Group, Analysis of TIF Subsidies for Target Stores Prescription Drug Data for Sale
HB 1346 -- New Hampshire law banning use of prescription drug data for marketing purposes Waste and Abuse in Homeland Security ContractsUS House Committee on Government Reform, Waste, Abuse, and Mismanagement of Homeland Security Contracts Eye on the RightIn response to a number of prominent politicians publicly questioning their business methods, Wal-Mart -- a for-profit corporation -- has declared its intention to start biased "voter education" programs in early Presidential primary and caucus states like Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. Under federal law, it is illegal for corporate money to be spent to promote the election or defeat of candidates, but it looks like Wal-Mart is looking to make as big of an impact as it can by using its massive corporate coffers to threaten any political leaders who dare to question their destructive business practices. Three Steps Forward1. NY: Ground Zero Responders Finally Get Relief 2. OH, AZ: Minimum Wage Measures Qualify for Ballots 3. CA: Clean Money Campaign Backers Crash Big Money Fundraisers Two Steps BackUpcoming EventsThursday, August 17 State Issues Forum on Health, Morality, and Reproductive Rights Jackson E/F State Issues Forum Workshop on Building Relationships Between Legislators and Advocates Lincoln D/E Upcoming Partner Events Around the Country
Tuesday, August 22 -- Americans for Health Care, a project of the Service Employees International Union, is organizing Chalk It Up, a National Day of Health Care Action. Using chalk as a creative unifying theme, Americans for Health Care is hosting rallies, house parties, and public events across the nation. To find a local event, or create your own, go to www.ImAHealthCareVoter.org. Thursday, August 31 -- If It's Broke, Fix It: Health Care Providers and Health Reform -- This event hosted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund will explore the challenges the current health care system poses for health professionals, patients and policymakers, and how doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals can use their unique insight and real-life experiences to steer the nation towards a solution. Featured Speaker: Senator Tom Daschle, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress. 5:00 PM-6:00 PM | HealthSpace Cleveland | 8911 Euclid Avenue | Cleveland, OH 44106 Jobs & InternshipsProgressive States' policy department is hiring for new policy positions and is also looking for interns. For details, visit the Jobs & Internships Page. SuggestionsPlease shoot me an email at msinger@progressivestates.org if you have feedback, tips, suggestions, criticisms, or nominations for any of our sidebar features.
Matt Singer Progressive
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