News Releases

News Release | Maryland Environmental Health Network

Health Advocates Call for Stronger Protections from Environmental Threats for Children

The Maryland Environmental Health Network (MDEHN) released a report today documenting progress and challenges in protecting children from environmental health threats in Maryland. The 2013 Maryland Children’s Environmental Health Report details how contaminants in a community's environment – in water, land, air, and homes – can harm children – and offers policy-makers strategies for more protective action.

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News Release | US PIRG | Tax

Subsidizing Bad Behavior

January 3 – A report released today spotlights a common practice where corporations that commit wrongdoing and agree to financial settlements with the federal government, go on to claim such settlement payments as tax-deductible business expenses. The new study, released by the Maryland Public Interest Research Group (Maryland PIRG), follows a record year of corporate settlements, while many more settlements relating to banking, environmental, and consumer safety issues are expected.

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News Release | Maryland PIRG | Tax

First Step to Avoid the Fiscal Cliff: Close Offshore Tax Loopholes

With Congress scrambling to agree on ways to reduce the deficit, Maryland PIRG joined with MaryPIRG Students and a concerned College Park student today to point out a clear first step to avoid the “fiscal cliff”: closing offshore tax loopholes. Many of America’s largest corporations and wealthiest individuals use accounting gimmicks to shift profits made in America to offshore tax havens, where they pay little to no taxes. This tax avoidance costs the federal government $150 billion in tax revenue each year. Maryland PIRG released new data illustrating the size of this loss with 16 dramatic ways $150 billion could be spent.

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News Release | Maryland PIRG Foundation | Consumer Protection

Survey Finds Dangerous Toys on Store Shelves

This morning Maryland PIRG Foundation released the report, revealing the results of laboratory testing on toys for lead, cadmium and phthalates, all of which have been proven to have serious adverse health impacts on the development of young children. The survey also found small toys that pose a choking hazard, extremely loud toys that threaten children’s hearing, and toy magnets that can cause serious injury.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Tax

This Time, BP Settlement Protects Taxpayers

Unlike earlier settlements from the Gulf Oil spill, the settlement the U.S. Justice Department negotiated with BP stipulated that none of the penalties paid are tax-deductible, according to Lanny Breuer, head of the Dept. of Justice's criminal division.