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Reining in Wall Street Reports

Report | Ohio PIRG | Financial Reform

Big Banks, Bigger Fees

Since Congress largely deregulated consumer deposit (checking and savings) accounts beginning in the early 1980s, the PIRGs have tracked bank deposit account fee changes and documented the banks’ long-term strategy to raise fees, invent new fees and make it harder to avoid fees. 

Report | Ohio PIRG | Financial Reform

Tax Shell Game

Many corporations operating in the United States funnel money through offshore tax havens in order to avoid paying billions in U.S. taxes. In fact, an independent study found that nearly two-thirds of corporations pay no taxes at all. Goldman Sachs, which received a $10 billion taxpayer bailout, managed to get their effective tax rate down to one percent by utilizing maneuvers they describe as “changes in geographic earnings mix.”

Report | Ohio PIRG | Consumer Protection, Financial Reform

Foreclosures, Failed Banks and Fees

While the financial crisis is global in scope, Ohio is one of its flashpoints. Ohio lives and families have been shattered and homes and neighborhoods shuttered due to unfair and predatory lending practices. The solution is to enact a strong federal Consumer Financial Protection Agency that reinstates federal law as a floor not a ceiling of protection and has as its primary responsibility the enforcement of consumer protection laws. A new Consumer Financial Protection Agency would regulate financial products like mortgages, car loans, payday loans and credit cards – wherever purchased -- in much the same way the Food and Drug Administration ensures the safety of our medicines or the Consumer Product Safety Commission oversees toys, electronics and other household goods. 

Tools & Resources

Priority Action

The CUT Loopholes Act would put an end to the price and profit shifting that allows publicly traded companies to engage in pervasive tax avoidance.

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