Offshore Tax Havens Hurt Honest American Taxpayers: About $300 billion a year in taxes go unpaid, and about $1.5 trillion in personal assets of U.S. taxpayers are held offshore. Multinationals often pay little or no taxes on their foreign profits. These unpaid taxes increase the share of the tax burden shouldered by honest taxpayers. In some cases, tax benefits for foreign investment are larger than the actual tax, meaning that in some cases Uncle Sam actually pays corporations to invest overseas. As a result, the tax code encourages multinationals to invest outside the United States rather than within it. Shifting business investment abroad can reduce American economic growth and wages. Even solely paper transactions to exploit these rules erode the tax base, shifting the tax burden from corporate profits onto wages and other sources. [Sawicky, 2006; NY Times, 5/3/2007; Kvaal, 2006]

There Are More Than Five Tax Lobbyists for Every Member of Congress: In 2007, 2,885 Washington lobbyists registered to lobby on tax issues. The Cayman Islands, one of the most popular offshore tax havens, have spent heavily on lobbyists, public relations agents, and lawyers to persuade Congress not to tighten regulations on tax dodging. [CRP, 2007; New York Times, 07/01/07]

John Edwards Will Declare War on Tax Havens: As president, John Edwards will extend the time the I.R.S. has to investigate offshore tax havens, reduce the burden of proof of foreign tax evasion, and require U.S. institutions to report the formation of offshore accounts. He will also crack down on peddlers of tax shelters by increasing penalties, prohibiting contingent fee arrangements for tax advisors, and eliminating the ability to patent tax shelters. To ensure that American companies’ profits are taxed when earned at either the U.S. rate or by a foreign country at a comparable rate, Edwards will eliminate the benefit of deferral in low-tax countries.

To read more about John Edwards’ plan to restore fairness to America’s tax system, please visit http://johnedwards.com/issues/tax-reform/.

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Families are Struggling with Rising Home Heating Oil Prices: America’s reliance on oil leaves families vulnerable to rising prices, contributes to the crisis of global warming, and undermines our national security. Crude oil and home heating oil prices are now near an all-time record high. Meanwhile, the top six oil companies have collected over $477 billion in profits over the past six years. Exxon Mobil earned $40 billion last year, the largest annual corporate profit in history. [EIA, 2007; EPI, 2007]

Big Oil and Gas Companies Have Spent over $700 Million on Washington Influence: Since 1990, oil and gas companies have spent over $209 million on campaign contributions – with more than two-thirds going to Republicans. There are more than 4 energy lobbyists for every member of Congress, and oil and gas companies have already spent over $38 million on lobbying in 2007. [CRP, 2007]

John Edwards Will Fight for Lower Home Heating Oil Prices: John Edwards has championed the need to take on big oil and gas companies to halt global warming and build a new energy economy based on efficiency and renewable energy. Edwards has called on President Bush and Congress to release some of the nation’s home heating and oil reserves to bring down prices and to finally fully fund the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which could help more than 3 million more families. He has also proposed more than doubling assistance for weatherization programs and called on neighbors to help weatherize the homes of vulnerable seniors this winter.

For more information about John Edwards’ plans to improve energy inefficiency and move America toward energy independence, please visit http://johnedwards.com/issues/energy/.

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High-Cost Financial Services Exploit Low-Income Families: Financial services companies collect high fees in urban and working-class neighborhoods where there are few mainstream bank branches. Payday loans -- short-term unsecured loans that carry high interest rates -- have ballooned to a $28 billion industry. Annual rates on payday loans typically exceed 400 percent a year. Families pay check-cashing stores as much as $500 a year for services that banks offer for $60. Interest on car title loans quickly exceed the amount borrowed. Low-income tax filers pay more than $1.2 billion a year for the "refund anticipation loans" that are aggressively marketed by tax preparers, even though they could get their refunds from the I.R.S. for free within ten days. [CRL, 2004; Fannie Mae Foundation, 2006; CFA, 2005; NCLC and CFA, 2006]

Payday Lenders Have Bought Washington Influence: Eleven states and Washington, D.C. currently have laws prohibiting or limiting payday lending and more states have legislation pending, but Congress has not taken national action. Since 2000, a group of major payday lenders has spent over $11 million on lobbying. Payday lending companies have also given members of Congress lavish trips to popular vacation destinations like Palm Springs, California and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. [CFA, 2007; Dan Rather Reports, 11/23/2006; CRP, 2007]

John Edwards Will Take on Abusive and Predatory Lenders: John Edwards will stand up for regular families by capping interest rates on payday loans. He will also create a new Family Savings and Credit Commission to protect consumers. It will review all financial services products marketed to families to ensure that terms are reasonable and fairly disclosed and oversee all types of financial institutions, whether chartered under federal or state law.

For more information about John Edwards' plans to take on abusive lenders and help families save, please visit http://johnedwards.com/issues/debt/.

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Oil Companies Get Huge Tax Breaks - and Huge Profits: Yesterday, Republican Senators blocked an energy bill that would have repealed more than $13 billion over ten years in tax giveaways for oil companies. Big oil companies have benefited from tax breaks and subsidies for years. The oil industry - which has written our nation's energy policy for years -- receives $2 billion a year in tax breaks for drilling they would undertake anyway. The 2005 Energy Bill alone contained over $6 billion in subsidies for big oil corporations. While American families are spending $1,000 more a year on gasoline than they did in 2001, taxpayer subsidies helped ExxonMobil take in $40 billion last year - the largest yearly corporate profit in history. [New York Times 12/13/07; CFA, 2007; PC, 2005; AAA, 2007]

Big Oil and Gas Companies Have Spent over $700 Million on Washington Influence: Since 1990, oil and gas companies have spent over $209 million on campaign contributions - with more than two-thirds going to Republicans. There are more than 30 energy lobbyists for every member of Congress, and oil and gas companies have already spent over $38 million on lobbying in 2007. [CRP, 2007]

John Edwards Will End Taxpayer Subsidies for Oil Companies: John Edwards will call on Congress to repeal taxpayer subsidies for big oil companies and reinvest the savings in affordable, clean, and renewable energy through his New Energy Economy Fund.

To learn more about John Edwards' plan to build the New Energy Economy, please visit http://johnedwards.com/energy.

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Private Insurance Companies are Draining Medicare Resources: Misguided Medicare giveaways to private insurance companies are jeopardizing health care for older Americans. The Medicare Advantage program – expanded by the law that created the privatized prescription drug benefit – provides huge subsidies to insurance companies to offer private-fee-for-service coverage for seniors. The government pays Medicare Advantage private plans an average of 12 percent more (and up to 19 percent more for fee-for-service plans) than it does for the same services in traditional Medicare. Nationally, these overpayments total more than $10 billion annually. [CBPP, 2007; CBO, 2007]

Insurance Companies Have Spent More Than $1.2 Billion to Influence Legislation. Insurance companies have spent $1,239,185,079 on campaign contributions and lobbying since 1998. The insurance industry ranks second among all industries for total lobbying spending and has employed over 2,000 lobbyists since 1998. [CRP, 2007; CPI, 2005]

John Edwards Will Take on the Health Insurance Lobby: John Edwards will take on the health insurance lobby to give Americans truly universal health care within his first year in office. His plan will stop Medicare overpayments to private insurance companies and invest the savings in strengthening Medicare.

For more information about John Edwards’ plan to lower health care costs and enact truly universal health care, please visit www.johnedwards.com/issues/health-care/.

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Prescription Drug Reimportation Could Save Families $50 Billion over Ten Years: American families -- including those who have health insurance -- are struggling to pay rising prescription drug prices. Many of the most popular and expensive prescription drugs in United States are also sold in Canada -- but at a fraction of the American price. Some of these drugs are made in the United States, and others are manufactured in Canada under strict quality standards. These drugs could be safely imported or reimported from Canada to the United States to help families save an estimated $50 billion over ten years, but federal rules effectively prohibit it. The Secretary of Health and Human Services has the authority to allow the safe imporation of any drug, but hasn't used it. [CAP, 2004; Washington Post, 5/3/07]

Big Drug Companies Spent over $1.2 Billion on Washington Influence: Pharmacies and consumers aren't allowed to import American-made drugs from Canada to the United States, but drug companies are. Since 1998, the pharmaceutical industry has spent over $1.2 billion on federal campaign contributions and lobbyists - more than any other industry - to promote their legislative priorities, including easy reimportation of drugs from Canada. Drug companies have two lobbyists for every member of Congress, and many of those lobbyists are former senators, representatives, and congressional staffers. The pharmaceutical industry has poured over $148 million into federal candidates' war chests since 1990. [State of Illinois, 2007; CRP, 2007; CPI, 2007; CBS News, 03/29/2007; CRP, 2007; Washington Post, 01/11/2007]

John Edwards will Allow Safe Reimportation of Drugs from Canada: John Edwards has long supported the safe reimportation of drugs from Canada. He supports efforts to contain drug costs through reimportation in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Boston and elsewhere.

To learn more about John Edwards' plans to lower prescription drug prices and help make quality health care affordable for all Americans, please visit http://johnedwards.com/issues/health-care/costs/

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Excessive Drug Advertising Raises Costs and Misleads Consumers: The high cost of prescription drugs contributes to runaway health care costs that strain family budgets and make American businesses less competitive. Since the government relaxed direct-to-consumer advertising rules, drug ad spending has nearly quadrupled to over $4 billion a year. Meanwhile, prescription prices have risen three times faster than inflation. Top companies spend twice as much on marketing and administration as they do on research and development. Aggressive and sometimes misleading drug company marketing is increasingly influencing Americans’ health decisions. For instance, the digestive drug Zelnorm was less than 10 percent more effective than a sugar pill, but its memorable ad campaign showing writing on women’s bare waists drove 500,000 Americans to buy it. After months of heavy marketing and nearly $1 billion in sales, it was withdrawn for causing heart attacks and strokes. [GAO, 2006; KFF, 2007]

Big Drug Companies Spent over $1.2 Billion on Washington Influence: Since 1998, the pharmaceutical industry has spent over $1.2 billion on federal campaign contributions and lobbyists – more than any other industry – to promote their legislative priorities, including successfully fighting tougher advertising restrictions in the recent FDA bill. Drug companies have two lobbyists for every member of Congress, and many of those lobbyists are former senators, representatives, and congressional staffers. The pharmaceutical industry has poured over $148 million into federal candidates’ war chests since 1990. [CRP, 2007; CPI, 2007; CBS News, 03/29/2007; CRP, 2007; Washington Post, 01/11/2007]

John Edwards will Stand Up to Drug Companies to Stop Misleading Advertisements: John Edwards believes that new drugs should succeed by treating patients well and cost-effectively, not through lobbying and public relations efforts. To improve quality of care and bring down drug costs, he will delay ads on new drugs to ensure that well-informed doctors – not high-paid advertising consultants – drive prescriptions in the early phases before Americans know the full effects of new drugs. He will also give the FDA real power to prevent misleading drug ads, increase the penalties for drug companies that violate truth-in-advertising laws and expand drug makers’ required disclosures about drugs’ effectiveness and side effects.

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Despite Accidents, Amusement Rides are Virtually Unregulated: Millions of American families board rides at theme parks, carnivals and fairs every year, but the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) – the organization charged with regulating everything from children’s toys to home appliances – doesn’t have even one employee dedicated to ensuring the safety of these rides. In a single week in 1999, four people were killed on rides, and there were 3,400 ride-related injuries in 2004. It’s impossible to say how many people have recently been killed or injured on amusement rides, since the CPSC stopped issuing reports on ride injuries when the official who used to write them resigned in 2005. [Washington Post, 12/4/2007]

Theme Park Lobbyists Have Fought Safety Regulation: When a government investigation uncovered cover-ups of amusement park safety risks in 1981, lobbyists argued that more safety inspections would cause parks “economic hardship.” Congress responded by revoking the federal government’s authority to regulate the safety of theme park rides. Rep. Edward Markey has introduced legislation to give the federal government authority to inspect theme park rides and to provide increased resources for CPSC inspection of rides at fairs and carnivals. In response, the industry’s lobbying group has quadrupled its spending on lobbyists, and theme parks and their lobbyists have paid for at least 18 theme park vacations for lawmakers and their staffs. [Washington Post, 12/4/2007]

John Edwards Will Protect American Families’ Safety: John Edwards believes that officials responsible for product safety should look after families, not big corporations. Edwards has called on President Bush to demand the resignation of Nancy Nord, the acting chair of the CPSC, who has taken gifts from the companies she regulates and who opposes congressional efforts to strengthen the CPSC. As president, he will ban industry gifts to regulators, increase CPSC resources and put more information about safety risks in the hands of consumers.

For more information about John Edwards’ plan to strengthen the CPSC and keep families safe, please visit: http://johnedwards.com/issues/trade/toy-safety-fact-sheet/

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Tens of Billions of Taxpayer Dollars for the Nuclear Power Industry’s Expansion: Nuclear power plants generate radioactive waste that we cannot store safely and permanently, are a target for terrorist attacks, and are very expensive and time-consuming to build. The majority of Americans oppose increasing our country’s use of nuclear power. But earlier this year, those lobbyists convinced the Senate to pass an energy bill that provided up to $50 billion in loan guarantees for the construction of new nuclear energy plants. The nuclear energy industry plans to use tens of billions of taxpayers’ money to build 28 new nuclear reactors at a cost of approximately $5 billion each. [MIT, 2007; NYT 07/31/2007]

The Nuclear Energy Industry Has an Army of Lobbyists: The energy and nuclear power lobbying force is the seventh largest in Washington with more than 17,000 registered lobbyists. Since 1998, the Nuclear Energy Institute – an industry organization – and other companies in the power industry have spent over $51 million on lobbying. Last year alone, they spent nearly $16 million on campaign contributions. [CPR, 2007]

John Edwards Will Reject Nuclear Power and Invest in Renewable Energy: Edwards opposes the construction of new nuclear power plants with taxpayer subsidies. He believes that, with a president who asks Americans to be patriotic about something other than war, we can build a New Energy Economy and achieve energy independence.

To read more about John Edwards’ plan to build the New Energy Economy, please visit http://johnedwards.com/issues/energy/.

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Family Farmers Are Being Replaced by Irresponsible Agribusinesses: In the past generation, over 50,000 small livestock farms have closed, many of them forced out of business by large-scale livestock operations. These massive agribusinesses concentrate thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of animals in one location, producing billions of pounds of untreated waste. These concentrated animal feeding operations impose odors, health risks, and water pollution onto surrounding communities, while their profits are sent out of local communities. [Honeyman and Duffy, 2006]

Big Livestock Corporations Have Spent over $21 Million on Washington Influence: Though independent farmers, environmentalists, and others have opposed the growth of concentrated animal feeding operations, the livestock industry has succeeded in convincing Washington to allow them to continue polluting and driving smaller family farms out of business. Since 1998, the livestock industry has spent nearly $20 million on contributions to the lawmakers who regulate it and nearly $2 million on lobbying in 2007 alone. [CRP, 2007]

John Edwards Will Clean Up Cattle and Hog CAFOs: Due to the enormous amounts of waste and corrosive effects on rural environments, Edwards is calling for a national moratorium on the expansion of existing and the construction of new CAFOs, while allowing local communities to opt out. Edwards has also proposed new environmental legislation to regulate pollution from existing lagoons and impose tough penalties on polluters.

For more information on John Edwards’ plan to restore fairness for family farmers, please visit http://johnedwards.com/issues/rural/.

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Private Equity and Hedge Fund Managers Don’t Pay Their Fair Tax Share: Some of the richest people in America, hedge fund managers, would rather pay lobbyists than taxes. Last year, the average manager of a top hedge fund took a payday of $363 million and three netted over $1 billion dollars in a single year. This income, like other earned income, is payment for the work they do, but they pay only the lower 15 percent rate for investment income on most of it. When lawmakers tried to plug the tax code loophole that funnels billions of dollars into the pockets of some of the very highest paid Americans, the private equity and hedge fund industry killed the bill. [USA Today, 5/26/2006]

The Hedge Fund Industry Spent $6.1 Million to Avoid Higher Taxes: The hedge fund industry spent over $6 million on lobbyists and hired more than 20 lobbying firms. At the same time, they stepped up their campaign contributions. Of course, Congress dropped the bill that could have closed the hedge fund loophole, leaving the loophole wide open. This happens all the time in Washington. Measures that lobbyists oppose just fall off the schedule. Even Democrats backed down from asking hedge fund managers to pay their fair share when Wall Street lobbyists put the pressure on. [Bloomberg, 11/09/2007; Washington Post, 10/9/2007]

John Edwards Will Close Tax Loopholes: Edwards will close the private equity and hedge fund loophole and ensure that publicly traded private equity and hedge funds pay corporate taxes. He will restore fairness to the tax code by creating three new tax breaks to honor and strengthen three pillars of America’s middle class -- savings, work, and families – and requiring a fair contribution from the wealth of high-income Americans, reversing the shift of the tax code onto middle class wages.

To read more about John Edwards’ plan to build One America with tax reform to reward work, please visit http://johnedwards.com/issues/tax-reform/

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Big Agribusiness Keeps Getting Bigger While Family Farmers Struggle: Today, the small farmers who are the heart of rural America have been put at the mercy of big agribusiness. It used to be that on market days, an Iowa hog farmer could go to five different packers to sell hogs. Today the same farmer is down to just one buyer, and often that buyer is playing games to drive hog prices down. Even worse, the big meat packing companies are trying to integrate vertically by both buying and raising livestock. Now, just four corporations control approximately 66 percent of the pork market and 84 percent of the beef market. [Hendrickson and Heffernan, 2007; Cattle Buyer’s Weekly, 2003]

Corporate Meat Packers Spent Over $19 Million on Washington Influence: Big meat producers know that small, independent farmers can compete when the playing field is level – so they’ve paid Washington to rig the game. Since 1998, meat processing and meat product companies spent over $19 million to influence legislation. This year, they’ve already spent over $1.6 million. [CRP, 2007]

John Edwards Will Ensure Fairness for Farmers: As president, Edwards will launch a new initiative called “Fairness for Farmers” – the toughest, most aggressive enforcement of fair competition laws since Teddy Roosevelt rode into Washington. He will enact a strong national ban on packer ownership to stop the spread of large corporate hog interests. Communities with laws that discourage corporate farming have lower poverty levels, lower unemployment, and more farms with cash gains. [Welsh & Lyson, 2001]

For more information on John Edwards’ plan to ensure fairness for family farmers, please visit http://johnedwards.com/issues/rural/.

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Insurance Companies Deny Coverage when Families Need It Most: Small businesses and Americans who don't get insurance through their jobs – including entrepreneurs, part-time workers and independent contractors – must turn to an unpredictable and often unaffordable insurance market. Applicants who have conquered a wide range of common medical problems such as cancer, diabetes, eating disorders and autism, or who have the "wrong" age, weight, or job often face unaffordable premiums or cannot get coverage at all. In 2005, nearly 60 percent of adults seeking individual coverage had difficulty finding an affordable plan. One in five were denied coverage, charged a higher price, or had a specific health condition excluded from coverage. [Collins et al, 2006]

Insurance Companies Spent over $3 Billion on Washington Influence: Insurance companies spend billions of dollars on Washington influence so they don't have to spend them on patient care. Since 1998, health companies have spent over $3 billion on lobbying and campaign contributions to stop health care reform legislation. While these big companies game the system to insure only healthy people, states are forced to spend tax money to maintain "high risk pools" for individuals denied coverage by insurance companies. [CRP, 2007]

John Edwards Will Take on the Big Insurance Companies: As part of his plan to provide truly universal health care, Edwards will require fair terms for health insurance. He will require insurers to keep plans open to everyone and charge fair premiums, regardless of preexisting conditions, medical history, age, job and other characteristics. No longer will insurance companies be able to game the system to cover only healthy people.

For more information about John Edwards' plan to take on insurance companies, please visit http://johnedwards.com/issues/health-care/

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American Families are Struggling to Afford College: College has never been more important, but an estimated 200,000 college-qualified graduates fail to attend college each year because they can’t afford it. Among students who do go to college, more are taking out loans: two-thirds of students graduate with debt today, up from less than one half of students in 1993. Parents borrowing has also increased, and graduates’ debt levels have more than doubled over the past decade to an average of $19,200. [Dynarski, 1999; Project on Student Debt, 2007]

Banks and Lenders Have Bought Washington Influence: Massive subsidies and a guarantee against default – courtesy of U.S. taxpayers – make student loans a no-lose investment for banks and lenders. To protect their giveaways, banks have spent over $500 million on lobbying and campaign contributions since 1998. Sallie Mae's PAC alone contributed almost $600,000 to 2006 congressional campaigns and has spent over $9.3 million on lobbying since 2000. [CRP, 2007]

John Edwards will Reform the Student Loan Industry and Start College for Everyone: To save taxpayers money, Edwards will let students borrow directly from the Department of Education, as millions already have. He will also create a national initiative – based on a North Carolina program he helped start – to pay one year of public-college tuition, fees, and books for more than 2 million students who agree to work part-time in college, take a college-prep curriculum in high school and stay out of trouble.

For more information on John Edwards’ plan to make college affordable, please visit www.johnedwards.com/college-for-everyone/

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Seniors and Taxpayers are Paying for Soaring Drug Company Profits: The Medicare prescription drugs benefit was written by prescription drug industry lobbyists, and it prohibits the government negotiating for lower drug prices. The law gives the pharmaceutical industry a windfall estimated at $140 billion over eight years – more than half the cost to taxpayers is the profit to drug makers. Meanwhile, seniors pay nearly 60 percent more for the ten most common drugs than Veterans Affairs pays for the same drugs. The “doughnut hole” forces seniors to spend up to $3,000 out of pocket for drugs they need. [House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 2006; Boston University School of Public Health, 2004; FamiliesUSA, 2007; KFF, 2007; New York Times, 11/24/2007]

Big Drug Companies Spent over $1.2 billion on Washington Influence: Since 1998, the pharmaceutical industry has spent over $ 1.2 billion on federal campaign contributions and lobbyists – more than any other industry. Drug companies have two lobbyists for every member of Congress, and many of those lobbyists are former senators, representatives, and congressional staffers. The pharmaceutical industry has poured over $148 million into federal candidates war chests since 1990. [CRP, 2007; CPI, 2007; CBS News, 03/29/2007; CRP, 2007; Washington Post, 01/11/2007]

John Edwards Will Take on the Big Drug Companies to Help Seniors: Edwards will use the power of the government to benefit patients, not drug companies. He will repeal the provision preventing Medicare from negotiating drug prices and empower states to use Medicaid’s leverage to purchase drugs at lower prices by consolidating their purchasing power. He will also give Medicare beneficiaries a chance to obtain their prescription drugs through traditional Medicare, not a private company, forcing private companies to compete with the government to see who is more efficient. The savings from these and other steps will be used in part to address the doughnut hole.

For more information on John Edwards’ plan to take on skyrocketing Medicare drug costs, see http://johnedwards.com/issues/seniors/

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American Families Are Struggling with Costly Debt: American families are working harder, saving less, and borrowing more just to make ends meet. Credit card debt has more than tripled since 1989 to $876 billion. Most big credit card companies advertise low rates but reserve the right to change rates at any time for any reason, and a single late payment can trigger penalties that raise interest rates to an average of almost 25 percent. Consumers often fail to understand the basic terms of their cards due to complicated and confusing disclosures. [Demos, 2007; Demos, 2007; GAO, 2006]

Credit Card Companies and Banks Spent $750 Million on Washington Influence: Credit card companies and commercial banks have spent $747 million on campaign contributions and lobbying since 1998. Credit card companies have spent $196 million lobbying and $51 million on campaign contributions. Banks have spent $310 million lobbying and $191 million in campaign contributions. [Center for Responsive Politics, viewed 11/27/07; CRP, viewed 11/27/07; CRP, viewed 11/27/07; CRP, viewed 11/27/07]

John Edwards Will Take on the Credit Card Industry to Help American Families: He will pass a Borrower’s Security Act to restore minimum protections to credit card borrowers. He will create a new Family Savings and Credit Commission to put someone on families’ side, ensuring that financial products are not abusive or predatory. And he will reduce families’ reliance on costly credit by helping families save and creating new non-profit sources of emergency loans.

For more information on John Edwards’ plan to take on abusive lenders, please visit http://www.johnedwards.com/issues/debt/