Read more about the article UN Health Conference Bans Media Day After Kicking Out Public and Then Passes Massive Global Tobacco Tax in Secret

UN Health Conference Bans Media Day After Kicking Out Public and Then Passes Massive Global Tobacco Tax in Secret

Drew Johnson is a Senior Fellow with The Taxpayers Protection Alliance After booting the public from its meetings on Monday, the World Health Organization’s tobacco control convention ramped up its assault on transparency on Tuesday when the press was also banned from the Moscow conference. Shortly after the media was removed from the convention, the United Nations’ health agency secretly passed the world’s first ever global tax – an outrageous scheme requiring nearly 180 countries to apply a minimum tax on tobacco products. All indications were that the global tobacco tax would not pass until Thursday or Friday, if at all. Without the public and the media there to watch, delegates ratified the tax almost immediately. When I, and a handful of other accredited journalists, showed up for a Tuesday morning press briefing, we were told that the briefing was cancelled and the press was no longer allowed to attend any convention events at all. The rest of the convention, which cost world taxpayers nearly $20 million, will now take place in secret, behind closed doors. It’s a chilling and disturbing attack on the freedom of the press – especially given the impact decisions made at the convention will have on people throughout the world.

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Read more about the article World Health Organization Boots the Public So It Can Discuss A Global Tobacco Tax in Secret

World Health Organization Boots the Public So It Can Discuss A Global Tobacco Tax in Secret

A version of this op-ed ran in The Washington Times A tobacco reduction conference hosted by the World Health Organization, the United Nation’s public health agency, took a hostile and alarming turn on Monday when the public was kicked out of the meeting. The tyrannical attack on the principles of transparency and accountability took place when delegates from more than 175 countries who are part of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a UN global anti-tobacco treaty, agreed unanimously to boot spectators. Delegates then voted to ban the public from the Moscow conference center where the event is taking place for the duration of the week-long meeting.

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Read more about the article TPA Submits Comments to Postal Regulatory Commission on USPS Grocery Delivery Expansion
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TPA Submits Comments to Postal Regulatory Commission on USPS Grocery Delivery Expansion

The federal government has a nasty habit of inserting itself into the marketplace when it is neither wanted nor needed. Many times their involvement harms private sector stakeholders who are at a limited capacity when it comes to the advanatages the federal government has in order to cripple private competition, regardless of the usual lower quality service the government provides at taxpayer expense. Recently the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced plans to expand their grocery delivery service beyond current markets and sought public opinion on the proposal. Last week, Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) submitted comments to the Postal Regulatory Commission on this matter and pointed out the unfair advantages, sorry financial state of the agency, and lack of clarity for how this will impact the marketplace and the US Postal Service. Click 'read more' below to see the full comment

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Read more about the article TPA Signs International Coalition Letter Opposing Any New Taxation Proposals at Moscow Conference

TPA Signs International Coalition Letter Opposing Any New Taxation Proposals at Moscow Conference

Beginning next week in Moscow, the World Health Organization’s COP6 (the sixth session of the Conference of the Parties) will be held in Moscow, Russian Federation from October 13-18. There are many issues that will be on the agenda for this international event, but there are some issues in particular that the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) will be keeping a close watch on to see what develops out of the meeting. One issue in particular is taxation, as there are those who may be seeking to introduce new taxes or have a ‘harmonizing’ of tax rates beyond sovereign borders. Keeping that in mind, TPA signed onto an International Coalition Letter expressing direct opposition to any of those types of proposals that may come from the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Click 'read more' below to read the full letter

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Read more about the article Pennsylvania Cigarette Tax Increase Unlikely to Help Education Funding

Pennsylvania Cigarette Tax Increase Unlikely to Help Education Funding

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett States are constantly looking for ways to get more money from taxpayers, and no matter how many times a tax increase fails to generate the desired result, we see this tactic repeated over and over again. Unfortunately, now comes yet another disappointment from a state legislature looking to fix problems with budget shortfalls. Lawmakers in Pennsylvania recently moved in a bipartisan manner to increase cigarette taxes by $2 with the approval of the state’s Republican Governor. The move comes under the heading of aiding a troubled education sector in Philadelphia. While there’s nothing wrong with improving education standards for children in areas where the improvement is needed, the way in which those reforms are achieved can become problematic. The tax increase the Governor signed is designed to fund the school district to help Philadelphia public schools but the negative impact that tax increases can have may end up putting the state in real jeopardy of falling short in terms of fulfilling their commitment to the schools and students in that district. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has been a vocal critic of this type of tax increase and there is reason to show why it can actually do more harm than good on multiple levels.

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Read more about the article Oregon LEEDing The Way To Break The Timber Certification Monopoly

Oregon LEEDing The Way To Break The Timber Certification Monopoly

This article originally appeared in The Daily Caller on October 1, 2014 The deeply forested state of Oregon may have been in the final one-third of states to join the Union in the latter half of the 19th century, but today the state rates among the very first in the nation working to dismantle the certification monopoly that for decades has quietly strangled America’s timber industry and unnecessarily burdened taxpayers. Last week, under the direction of Gov. John Kitzhaber, the Oregon Department of Forestry released a new white paper examining the economic impact of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program’s prejudices against the state’s two prevailing timber certification standards, the American Tree Farm System and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). LEED, the green building standard of choice for some 34 state governments and 440 municipalities across the country, plus more than a dozen federal agencies, awards its “green” construction points only for the sourcing of timber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The other two are left in the cold.

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Read more about the article Netflix Brings the Drama, and Not Just In Its Shows

Netflix Brings the Drama, and Not Just In Its Shows

This article originally appeared in Townhall on Otober 1, 2014 In a recent stunt that flamed out, Netflix led an online effort to incite their consumers into taking action on net neutrality that would ultimately benefit the company’s own bottom-line. The company tried to fake a slowdown of the Internet on its site to mimic what they claim could happen without net neutrality. The failed stunt showed that Netflix’s assertions and sneakiness are absurd. Netflix is now the go-to destination for movie and TV show rentals, accounting for a staggering one-third of all downstream Internet traffic during peak hours. As the company’s popularity and consumer base has grown, so too has its role at the center of many ongoing public policy debates in Washington, D.C. As the House of Representatives works to overhaul our outdated communications laws against the backdrop of a contentious debate surrounding net neutrality, they have examined the complex issue of interconnection – defined by the government as “the linking of two networks for the mutual exchange of traffic.”

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Read more about the article Canada Needs Stronger Intellectual Property Laws

Canada Needs Stronger Intellectual Property Laws

This article originally appeared in Inside Sources on September 19, 2014 The United States and Canada have long benefitted from a good economic relationship, including unfettered trade. That’s why it comes as a surprise that when Canada hosted trade negotiators from 12 countries in July to focus on opening trade through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement, there was tension. Canadian barriers to trade and investment remain discouragingly entrenched. Even though Canada is a key ally and close partner of the United States on a wide range of strategic issues, our neighbors to the North have emerged as a key detractor to updated rules for intellectual property (IP) rights needed to bring TPP into the 21st Century. Unfortunately, Canada’s resistance to innovation-friendly rights and protections isn’t limited to the TPP. The country’s judiciary, enforcement, and law-making bodies are further solidifying Canada as an outlier on IP rights globally. As a key driving force behind innovation and commerce, intellectual property is playing a key role in today’s global economy. Consequently, there must be a greater focus on preserving the best standards for IP, not just here in the United States, but all around the world, as technologies evolve and countries advance economically.

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Read more about the article Moving Closer to a Communications Act Update as Senate Commerce Committee Advances Legislation

Moving Closer to a Communications Act Update as Senate Commerce Committee Advances Legislation

The more technology advances, the more antiquated our current telecommunications laws become. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has advocated reforming many of the country’s outdated communications laws to better serve taxpayers and consumers. Over the past year we have seen some slight, but meaningful, progress on updating the Communications Act. Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) deserve credit for beginning this process in the House and we hope that they will introduce, and eventually pass, a bill that modernizes our Nation’s telecom laws. Much of that progress is due to a fundamental and bipartisan understanding that the marketplace has changed greatly since 1996 and legislation is needed in order to catch up with today’s Internet economy. A recent move in Congress, in a rare show of progress, moved the country closer to updating our communications laws. Just a few weeks ago the Senate advanced the Satellite Television Access and Viewer Rights Act (STAVRA), which contains key components for new age communications rules.

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Read more about the article New Rules from Obama Administration on Inversions Ignore Corporate Tax Reform

New Rules from Obama Administration on Inversions Ignore Corporate Tax Reform

Last week the Obama Administration acted unilaterally, again, proposing new restrictions through the Treasury Department aimed at halting the growing trend of tax inversions by U.S.-based companies. President Obama has been one of the loudest critics of the practice of inversions, but he is one of the main reasons why we have seen such an uptick in inversions over the last few years. Inversions occur when “an American company reincorporates for tax purposes in a tax-friendlier country such as the U.K. or Ireland, typically while maintaining much of their operations in the U.S.A.” Just a little over a week ago, the Treasury Department announced new rules and regulations regarding tax inversions by companies headquartered in the United States. Actions taken by the Treasury Department to change the current inversion rules include various measures designed to make inversions more difficult to complete.

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