A Key Similarity Between Snowden Leak and Panama Papers: Scandal Is What’s Been Legalized

FROM THE START of the reporting based on Edward Snowden’s leaked document archive, government defenders insisted that no illegal behavior was revealed. That was always false: Multiple courts have now found the domestic metadata spying program in violation of the Constitution and relevant statutes and have issued similar rulings for other mass surveillance programs; numerous articles on NSA and GCHQ documented…

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Hollande’s 75% ‘Supertax’ Failure A Blow To Piketty’s Economics – Forbes

France has said goodbye to its infamous 75% income tax on individuals earning more than 1 million euros this past weekend, returning to a top marginal income tax rate of 45%. The change, effective February 1, is a blow to the French Socialist party’s signature redistribution measure, the same remedy supported by popular French economist Thomas Piketty…

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Tax avoidance by corporations is out of control. The United Nations must step in | Comment is free | The Guardian

The rules that govern cross border profits enable systemic tax avoidance, because they allow profits to be shifted away from where they are generated to another country with a lower (or zero) tax rate – all as a matter of accounting rather than real economic activities. These rules frequently serve the economic interests of the…

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You Will Not Get To Retire: How Old Age Became Unaffordable And Unhealthy, And How We Can Fix It | Co.Exist | ideas + impact

Planning to retire? Not long ago, many of us would have automatically answered “yes” to that question, and with good reason. In the 20th century, retirement became the norm—something most people did. Thanks to generous programs like Social Security (enacted in 1935) and Medicare (1965), millions of people who once might have worked till they…

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