A living wage
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- Written by War on Want
- Category: Analysis
The right to be paid a living wage is a basic entitlement of all working people the world over. A living wage ensures that working people can earn enough to meet all their daily expenses and have some discretionary income left over to invest in their own or their children’s future.
Read the report
EU Commission is not giving up on FTT
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- Written by Valentina Pop/EUObserver
- Category: News
The European Commission has said it is not giving up on a planned financial transactions tax for 11 EU countries after a legal opinion said it was in breach of EU law.
"The European Commission is absolutely confident in the legality of the tax we have proposed. We reject any claims that it goes against the treaties or that it compromises the single market," EU tax commissioner Algirdas Semeta said on Saturday (14 September) after a meeting of EU finance ministers in Vilnius.
FTT deemed incompatible with Treaties
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- Written by EU
- Category: News
COUNCIL OF
THE EUROPEAN UNION
Brussels, 6 September 2013
OPINION OF THE LEGAL SERVICE*
Subject: Proposal for a Council Directive implementing enhanced cooperation in the area
of financial transaction tax (FTT)
- Legality of the counterparty-based deemed establishment of financial institutions
(Article 4(1) point f) of the proposal)
The Vulture's Victory
- Details
- Written by Joseph Stiglitz
- Category: Analysis
A recent decision by a United States appeals court threatens to upend global sovereign-debt markets. It may even lead to the US no longer being viewed as a good place to issue sovereign debt. At the very least, it renders non-viable all debt restructurings under the standard debt contracts. In the process, a basic principle of modern capitalism – that when debtors cannot pay back creditors, a fresh start is needed – has been overturned.
G20 Leaders Declaration St Petersburg
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- Written by G20
- Category: Documents
Read the full Declaration of the G20 in St Petersburg
Tax Annex to the St Petersburg G20 leaders declaration
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- Written by G20
- Category: Documents
1. The G20 has been at the forefront of efforts to establish a more effective, efficient and fair international tax system since they declared the era of bank secrecy over at the G20 London Summit in April 2009. In an increasingly borderless world, strengthening international cooperation in tax matters is essential to ensuring the integrity of national tax systems and maintaining trust in governments.
Read more: Tax Annex to the St Petersburg G20 leaders declaration
G20 focus on jobs but leaders distracted in summit fraught with political tensions
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- Written by ITUC
- Category: Analysis
While the Syria crisis dominated much of the G20 discussion, the leaders’ statement takes positive steps towards recognising the dangers of a social crisis driven by unemployment, inequality and exclusion. However, while the focus from the G20 is on long-term solutions, the risk is that short-term action will be missing.
The ITUC Global Poll 2013 finds the world in the midst of a social and political crisis to add to economic woes:
Read more: G20 focus on jobs but leaders distracted in summit fraught with political tensions
GFI Applauds G20 Commitment to Exchange Tax Information Automatically in Historic Crackdown on Tax Evasion
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- Written by GFI
- Category: News
All G20 Countries Expect to Be Actively Exchanging Information Automatically by End of 2015
Promises to Aid Developing Counties with Implementation Welcome, but More Must be Done to Help World’s Poorest
G20 Fails to Tackle Anonymous Shell Companies
Social Protection and Basic income: competitors or allies?
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- Written by Francine Mestrum
- Category: Research
Last year, the European Commission received a ‘citizens’ initiative’ on the introduction of an unconditional basic income in the European Union. It asked to promote and encourage cooperation among the Member States in order to launch such a basic income and to improve the systems of social security.
One million signatories were necessary to successfully introduce this demand, but it failed. However, it did stimulate the debate. In many meetings of social movements, someone is asking to put this topic on the agenda, whereas social protection is hardly mentioned. It is indeed an attractive and easy proposal, more particularly at a moment when all people are suffering from austerity policies and when social protection systems are ‘modernized’ in order to make them more ‘effective’. The proposal certainly has to be looked at carefully in order to see its advantages and its pitfalls.
Read more: Social Protection and Basic income: competitors or allies?
Financing the Global Sharing Economy
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- Written by Sharing the World's Resources
- Category: Analysis
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A report by Share The World’s Resources demonstrates how governments could mobilise over $2.8 trillion each year to bolster the global sharing economy and prevent life-threatening deprivation, reverse austerity measures and mitigate the human impacts of climate change. Read the report |
What do World Bank, IMF really do for needy countries? Add Poverty!
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- Written by Jo Erickson/MintPressNews
- Category: Analysis
Coming in with their guns, breaking down people’s doors, throwing my blankets and pans into the road and pulling my roof down, that’s what is happening here. They want us gone,” said Abdellahi, an Ethiopian farmer who was forcibly driven from his land by soldiers to make way for a World Bank $2 billion program that will hand over his farming land to companies like the international Karuturi Global Ltd (KARG) .
The Western world has often been criticized for the lack of political will to provide developing countries with aid. In the past, the U.S. and the European Union have had a policy of giving financial bank loan aid to developing countries, who will struggle to make payments on just the interest of their loan, and then are often forced to refinance the loan with the World Bank annually.
Read more: What do World Bank, IMF really do for needy countries? Add Poverty!
