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Congratulations to our presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden!
Elizabeth Warren wants to tax the teeth out of corporate lobbying
CNN)Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday released a new plan outlining how she would use the revenue generated by her proposed tax on "excessive lobbying" to beef up federal agencies charged with regulating major industries.
"This tax will reduce the incentive for excessive lobbying, and raise money that we can use to fight back against this kind of onslaught when it occurs," Warren wrote in a Medium post explaining the strategy.
First unveiled in broad strokes last month, Warren's plan would impose a 35% tax on lobbying expenditures between $500,000 and $1 million. The cost would escalate from there, with a 60% rate placed on every dollar beyond $1 million that rises to 75% once a company's lobbying costs surpass $5 million.
In this chapter of her wider agenda, Warren stresses that the issue goes beyond Congress, lawmakers and the "revolving door" between Capitol Hill and K Street -- and addresses lobbyist influence on regulatory bodies. Lobbyists "also target our federal departments like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," the agency she built during the Obama administration, Warren writes. "These agencies exist to oversee giant corporations and implement the laws coming out of Congress -- but lobbyists often do their best to grind public interest work at these agencies to a halt."
The campaign, crunching numbers from the non-profit, nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, estimates that its proposed tax -- had it been in effect over the past decade -- would have raised $10 billion from more than 1,600 corporations. Among them: pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, retailer Walmart, the US Chamber of Commerce and Koch Industries -- all of whom, and dozens more, would have paid at the 75% threshold. As an example, the insurance company Blue Cross/Blue Shield would have paid $163,368,515 on its $233,491,353 in lobbying expenditures between 2009 and 2018, according to Center for Responsive politics data.
In her Wednesday post, Warren said the new revenue would be cycled back into what she is calling the "Lobbying Defense Trust Fund." That cash will, in turn, be doled out to what she describes as underfunded and lobbyist-besieged government agencies.
"Every time a company above the $500,000 threshold spends money lobbying against a rule from a federal agency," Warren writes, "the taxes on that spending will go directly to the agency to help it fight back."
More at https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/02/politics/elizabeth-warren-2020-tax-lobbying/index.html
"This tax will reduce the incentive for excessive lobbying, and raise money that we can use to fight back against this kind of onslaught when it occurs," Warren wrote in a Medium post explaining the strategy.
First unveiled in broad strokes last month, Warren's plan would impose a 35% tax on lobbying expenditures between $500,000 and $1 million. The cost would escalate from there, with a 60% rate placed on every dollar beyond $1 million that rises to 75% once a company's lobbying costs surpass $5 million.
In this chapter of her wider agenda, Warren stresses that the issue goes beyond Congress, lawmakers and the "revolving door" between Capitol Hill and K Street -- and addresses lobbyist influence on regulatory bodies. Lobbyists "also target our federal departments like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," the agency she built during the Obama administration, Warren writes. "These agencies exist to oversee giant corporations and implement the laws coming out of Congress -- but lobbyists often do their best to grind public interest work at these agencies to a halt."
The campaign, crunching numbers from the non-profit, nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, estimates that its proposed tax -- had it been in effect over the past decade -- would have raised $10 billion from more than 1,600 corporations. Among them: pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, retailer Walmart, the US Chamber of Commerce and Koch Industries -- all of whom, and dozens more, would have paid at the 75% threshold. As an example, the insurance company Blue Cross/Blue Shield would have paid $163,368,515 on its $233,491,353 in lobbying expenditures between 2009 and 2018, according to Center for Responsive politics data.
In her Wednesday post, Warren said the new revenue would be cycled back into what she is calling the "Lobbying Defense Trust Fund." That cash will, in turn, be doled out to what she describes as underfunded and lobbyist-besieged government agencies.
"Every time a company above the $500,000 threshold spends money lobbying against a rule from a federal agency," Warren writes, "the taxes on that spending will go directly to the agency to help it fight back."
More at https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/02/politics/elizabeth-warren-2020-tax-lobbying/index.html
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Undecided
