Following the ouster of Sudans strongman Omar al-Bashir, sustained pressure yielded a power-sharing agreement between the military and opposition alliance. But the settlement is fragile and the economy is in deep distress. In this excerpt from our Watch List 2019 - Third Update for European policymakers, Crisis Group urges the EU to support the civilian cabinet during the countrys delicate transition.

This commentary is part of our Watch List 2019 - Third Update.

Against long odds, a protest movement triggered the ouster of Sudanese strongman Omar al-Bashir, one of Africas longest-ruling leaders. He was finally deposed by military coup on 11 April 2019. In mid-August, the opposition alliance that grew out of the protest movement and Sudans generals reached agreement on terms of a power-sharing transitional framework that, if fully implemented, will yield elections and civilian rule in three years. They have appointed a new prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, a well-respected economist, named a civilian cabinet and formed a joint civilian-military supervisory council to oversee the agreement signed on 17 August.

Prime Minister Hamdok is under pressure to deliver against high popular expectations. Many Sudanese hope the civilian cabinet can steer the country to a better future after three decades of economic stagnation, political repression and gross violations of human rights under Bashir. The opposition alliance, Forces for Freedom and Change, led mainly by young professionals new to politics, has already fired the imagination of Sudanese everywhere. Its disciplined, sustained and diverse campaign (with women often at the forefront), delivered change largely peacefully even in the face of brutal crackdowns by police and paramilitary units.

But major obstacles lie ahead. The settlement outlined in the 17 August document is fragile and needs careful nurturing in the face of several linked challenges. First, Hamdok and his cabinet inherit an economy in deep distress. They have prioritised its revival, but in pursuing reforms they ultimately need to fundamentally reorder a rentier system that privileges both the generals with whom they now share power and Bashirs former cronies. Second, Sudans generals only signed the power-sharing agreement under intense external pressure. They could still play spoiler during the transition if they choose to challenge new reforms they see as threatening their political and business interests. Third, armed groups from Sudans long-marginalised peripheries have not endorsed the deal. Securing a comprehensive peace agreement to end Sudans long-running internal wars will be a key priority, not least because these groups leaders could be co-opted by the security forces and work to derail the transition.

The European Union and its member states have a clear interest in helping make a success of Sudans promising yet delicate transition, and can support the country in the following ways:

Offer technical and financial support to the transitional administrations efforts to revive the economy and set out new fiscal policy in two ways:

Provide technical support to Hamdok and his team as they seek to stabilise government finances by consolidating revenue streams and centralising them within a transparent fiscal framework.

Provide budget support and development financing to the government while Hamdok undertakes deeper reforms and addresses core economic challenges, including the need to stabilise currency and commodity prices, tackle inflation and reduce youth unemployment.

Support the new cabinets efforts to confront corruption. The EU Asset Recovery Office could partner with authorities in Khartoum to help trace and recover some of the funds directed away from state coffers through the corruption of former regime insiders.

Press the U.S. to lift Sudans designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, which would help Sudan reconnect to the international financial system and help spur foreign investment. It is also a necessary step for Sudan to obtain debt relief, although Hamdoks government would also need to clear the countrys debt arrears and make progress on fiscal transparency.

Support the new administrations efforts to negotiate a peace deal with armed groups fighting in states on Sudans periphery, and offer technical and financial backing to talks currently hosted by Juba.

If transitional authorities agree on a roadmap for unifying regular military and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces under a single command, help support the reintegration into civilian life of militiamen who do not join the consolidated entity.

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Keeping Sudan's Transition on Track - Sudan - ReliefWeb

Harmonisation of the tax rates across the EU should be conducted so that it prevents the race to the bottom without harming competition, says Grzegorz Poniatowski from the Polish think-tank Centre for Economic and Social Research.

Grzegorz Poniatowski is the director of fiscal policy studies at the Centre for Economic and Social Research (CASE) in Warsaw and the team leader of the Study to quantify and analyse the VAT gap in EU-28 member states.

He spoke to EURACTIV Slovakias editor in chief Zuzana Gabriov during Tatra Summit, where he featured as an expert in the Focus Group on Smart Taxation in a Fast-Changing Global Economy.

The incoming European Commission has ambitious plans in the area of taxation. What is the state of play, do EUs tax policies deliver? Are they conducive towards proclaimed priorities, be it climate, innovation or support for SMEs?

I would make a distinction between the adaptation that the tax systems will need to undergo in long-term and in the short term. In the short run, tax compliance will be of the highest priority. We are the authors of the VAT gap study. For many governments this is a very political debate, this is actually a foregone revenue, that can be used for investments or infrastructure.

In Poland, the additional revenues were used for social policies and spending. There is a lot of money in the system that can be retrieved by increasing efficiency. Trends are quite positive in this regards. The economy has been growing for years and also tax compliance was increasing.

But there are long-term problems that the tax system will need to face in the future, probably starting with climate change. Tax incidence on tobacco is the highest. But if you take in the relative terms carbon taxes are large part of the revenue of member states. It is around 150 billion euro. Even with optimistic plans regarding ETS system, there will be forgone revenues in the future and the tax system will need to address it. And also the general approach that we tax what we see. There are parts of the economy that are untaxed and digital economy is one of those.

How do you perceive the European Commissions plans in the area of value-added tax (VAT)? There is the proposal on the definitive VAT system for business to business within the EU and the issue of the VAT rates.

Since 2015 weve in place what we call a mini one-stop-shop. This mini one-stop-shop should be extended into what we will call a definitive EU VAT system. This is something the European Commission was thinking of since 1967 to introduce a system where you would not have a 0% rate intracommunity supply of goods. This created a hole in the system, which was exploited by fraudsters. If you have a product that at some point is untaxed, there is no exchange of information, it is very easy for the trader to go missing and for the tax not to be levied at all.

This was expected from the very beginning. We knew we needed a definitive system, where you have Polish authorities raising money to be transferred to Germany and the other way around. Everyone was optimistic one or two years ago, but now it seems that some countries are opposed. The main opposition is Germany. It will probably not take place, which is a pity.

The other thing is a proposal for more flexibility in VAT rates, but compared to the other one, is not a tremendous reform and is also likely to fail. The countries are not keen to be given more freedom. Currently, no country in the EU, not even Luxemburg, imposes a bottom VAT rate. Of course we have countries competing with rates to get consumers from other member states, but still in my view, in VAT we do not have such a problem of race to the bottom as we have in corporate income taxation or personal income taxation to a lesser extent.

There are still problems with VAT gaps in various member countries. VAT is, as a source of EU budget, afinancial interest of the EU. Could the European Prosecutors Office (EPPO), soon to be established, help to close a gap in VAT in countries where it is particularly high?

Tax non-compliance has many components. We cannot close the VAT gap completely. You have errors, omissions, bankruptcies etc. However, it is possible to reduce the gap. If we concentrate on issues like fraud, evasion and avoidance there is a potential in decreasing forgone revenues.

There are three main aspects to increasing tax compliance. First, you may increase tax morale. There are countries with higher voluntary tax compliance but this is not something that could be quickly achieved. We know in which countries taxpayers are less keen on paying taxes. These countries are in our region, they are in southern Europe. You cannot change it from year to year. You can educate, you can provide good quality of public goods and create the system based on trust and enhance quality to the public sector, but this is a long process. The other element is sanctions. You may increase sanctions.

In Poland, this was one of the tools to increase tax compliance, for example, 25 years of imprisonment for tax fraud. Tax fraud is defined as something above one million Polish Zloty, which is approximately 2 250 000 euro. It seemed it had an effect. The most important aspect is the inevitability of sanctions. You want to control the exchange of information, be able to observe what taxpayers are doing. This is the aspect which needs to be prioritised if one wants to think of fast effects on tax compliance.

Member states are implementing solutions like safety standard audit file which means that information from invoices is sent in electronic form to the tax authorities and this information is at the disposal of tax authorities. It really works. In Poland, the VAT gap fell from 25 % to 12-13 % in 2018, which was tremendous and it drives political change as it finances social expenditure.

Automatic exchange of information works. In excise, we have full control. There is the EMCS movement system, track and trace. If we are able to improve the exchange of information between member states, I am sure that the VAT gap could be diminished quite substantially.

Tax avoidance of companies is something the public is very concerned about. How would you asses the steps taken by the EU to mitigate the problem so far?

The crackdown on corporate income tax evasion has been the least effective. When you look at large companies and conglomerates you see that they are completely non-profitable. This is completely different when you look at the medium and small enterprises. Those that cannot shift their bases across countries. In terms of corporate taxation, it needs substantial reform.

During his hearing, the Commissioner-designate Paolo Gentiloni promised to revive the common corporate tax base (CCCTB) proposal, calling it an absolute priority because we cant continue with this internal competition among member states. Can CCCTB help fighting tax evasion or aggressive tax practices? How?

To take any measures we need to have the same point of reference, which is the tax base. That is the first very important step, which of course some may be afraid of, not all. Some of the countries are afraid of the next steps, that it could be harmonisation or fixing rates. But this step needs to be taken, we need to know what the tax base is. The more actionable the tax-base, the better. Shifting base became easy and is at the core of profitability of large companies, all companies know how to do that. I am in favour of it and am looking with optimism to such a solution. Hopefully, it will be adopted.

Harmonisation is a word that usually sparks fear in the CEE region. Do you see why?

The question of harmonisation is a very important aspect that needs to be settled. Harmonisation should make the process easier: harmonisation of the definitions, exchange of information. Second, we need to make sure that the internal market is working as well as possible and that there are incentives to compete and not the contrary. The rule of subsidiarity of the EU needs to be kept in mind.

Harmonisation of rates should be conducted to the extent it prevents the race to the bottom, but not in a way it harms competition. There would be many cons of harmonising rates, the pros would not prevail, even looking from the health perspective. I am an expert in this area. I have seen how illicit trade developed in reaction to quite sudden changes in tax policies. I am not saying the rates should not go higher, just bear in mind the limitations.

Another tax-related proposal is the so-called carbon border tax. Commissioner-designate Gentiloni said the EU should move quickly on that, even if there are legal and technical constraints. Is this feasible?

Observing the debate in Poland, which is the only country in the world which started the construction of a new coal plant, I am quite sure that this kind of solution will be opposed at the EU level and so far I am not looking forward with optimism to make it work. Climate change is a negative externality. The ETS is clearly not enough at the moment and does not generate enough revenue for member states to replace carbon tax. Its very important to remember that all climate change policies, incentives, subsidies, they are expensive.

At the same time, member states will start to lose income from carbon taxes in the future. There is one puzzle, what to do to obtain income replacing the one that will forgo in the future without taxing the most vulnerable groups. If you have subsidies for solar panels, you give subsidies to wealthy people. You must keep in mind also the redistribution aspect of taxation.

There is a push for making these kinds of taxes, like the border carbon tax, own resources of the EU budget. Should this be done?

It is important that the tax, the revenues, are spent in a proper way, to mitigate climate change. Centralisation of this expenditure might be helpful in this regard. I am a fan of larger federalisation of the EU budget. US federal budget is 19 % of GDP, in the EU, it is 1 %. If you look at the actionable part of the budget it is very small.

EU has black and grey list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. There is a big discussion on whether this list represents the true situation and if the EU should not be more assertive. Just recently, the ECOFIN Council removed United Arab Emirates from the blacklist. Do this list and conditions attached serve the purpose?

One of the positive sides is that some countries are moving from black to grey, and some are removed altogether. This shows that it works, but that does not mean that the EU will not have to be more stringent in the future.

These decisions lie very much with the Council, that is member states. Taxation is one of the last areas where the decision in the EU is taken solely by unanimity. Should we move to qualified majority voting in taxation, as suggested by the Commission?

There is a bit of levy between the qualified majority and unanimity. With unanimity, it does not work. No serious reform can be implemented. With so many countries, it is impossible to have the so-called Pareto optimal situation. There will always be losers. We need to make sure, that everyone takes advantage of the changes that are implemented and everyone benefits similarly. We also need to make sure that the anti-EU rhetoric is not strengthened. It is very easy, to say the EU imposed something. It would be best to avoid veto but at the same time not to make the group that can block the decision not too small and not too large.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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Tax policy expert: Closing the tax gap can drive political change - EURACTIV

Washington state is infamous for its regressive taxation system, which places the highest burden on the states poorest residents while taking a smaller share from its wealthiest. Though the state constitution and law closes some avenues to turning that around, advocates say that policymakers do have options to fund critical services without hurting the least fortunate.

Policy wonks gathered at the Northwest African American Museum at the beginning of October to talk taxes, emphasizing the disproportionate impact of regressive taxation policies on marginalized groups and how the tax code could be used to create more equitable outcomes.

Its always about race, and its always about taxes, said Misha Hill, a policy analyst with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). ITEP is the source of the frequently cited statistic that Washington has the most regressive tax system in the country.

In fact, Hill said, there are no states in the union that have a truly progressive taxation system Washington just happens to be the worst. While states lean heavily on regressive sales taxes and property taxes, the federal tax system is actually successful at redistributing wealth from top earners to low-income people.

Part of that success rests with the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a powerful tool that results in a dollar-for-dollar reduction in overall tax liability and can be the source of tax refunds for working families.

One strategy to improve Washingtons tax structure would be funding a state version that the Budget and Policy Center calls the Working Families Tax credit, which mirrors the federal policy but extends the benefits to groups that dont qualify for the EITC such as immigrants, domestic care workers and students, said Misha Werschkul, executive director of the Budget and Policy Center.

Its a tool thats targeted directly at the problem we are trying to solve, Werschkul said.

Washington families are expected to claim more than $1 billion from the federal government in 2020, according to estimates by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). Much of those benefits would flow to communities of color whose members are more likely to be low income and receive the most benefit from existing tax credits, according to the CBPP.

Using the tax code to relieve the burden on communities of color is critical because for a long time, the tax code was used explicitly to keep them down.

In the years after the Civil War, state and local governments needed revenue to rebuild the south, said Michael Mitchell, senior director and counselor of equity and inclusion at the CBPP.

Initially, those policies were put in place by a coalition of newly emancipated Black people, poor White people and transplants from the north who moved to the south after the Civil War. They targeted land owned by wealthy White people as their source of tax revenue, a policy which was met with a backlash from that group, Mitchell said.

Through any means available terrorism, policy to redisenfranchise Black folks Democrats were going to regain power, Mitchell said.

They passed laws requiring supermajorities to pass new taxes. In Mississippi, three-fifths of the legislature had to sign on to pass taxes used to benefit poor people. At the same time, the population of people needing taxpayer-funded services ballooned as Black people were given the chance to access those programs for the first time.

In Washington, the state government was explicitly racist, writing in support of the Dred Scott decision that prohibited Black people from petitioning the court for their freedom and attempting to discourage Asian settlement by charging predominately Chinese workers for settling in the area.

In more recent history, Black communities were redlined into specific neighborhoods through federal home-buying policies, and the lack of a state income tax means that local governments rely on regressive property and sales taxes to pay for public goods used by low income families such as schools and public transportation.

The problem cant be solved without acknowledging the past and the disparate impacts on marginalized groups, said Andy Nicholas, associate director of fiscal policy at the Washington State Budget and Policy Center.

Lawmakers need to accept the reality of this history and think about how that continues to play out today when theyre thinking about crafting a number of policies, Nicholas said.

Just lowering taxes wont be enough, however. Washingtons schools, mental health programs and infrastructure are woefully underfunded, creating a scramble each budget season to try to fund policies and programs that tend to help poor families.

Thats going to mean finding ways to tax rich people, Werschkul said.

We should be challenging ourselves to do more than one thing, Werschkul said. We can create a tax credit that helps a million working families and make sure theres enough revenue to fund services. We can do both things.

Ashley Archibald is a Staff Reporter covering local government, policy and equity. Have a story idea? She can be can reached at ashleya (at) realchangenews (dot) org. Follow Ashley on Twitter @AshleyA_RC

Read the full October 16 - 22 issue.

2019 Real Change. All rights reserved.| Real Change is a non-profit organization advocating for economic, social and racial justice. Since 1994 our award-winning weekly newspaper has provided an immediate employment opportunity for people who are homeless and low income. Learn more about Real Change and donate now to support independent, award-winning journalism.

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Fishing for equity in a regressive tax system - Real Change News

At first, they wanted to save her.

Then, after she fled the Kansas foster care system at age 16 and fell victim to the commercial sex trade, social workers told her she was going to prison forever.

"When I went into foster care and they wanted to take me away from my family, I ran," she said. "I ran away, and that's how I really started to get into all of this trouble. After I ran away, that's when they started treating me like, 'Oh, you're a suspect and you're not innocent.'

"They never asked me why. It was just, 'You're a bad girl.'"

Now 18, she spent 14 months in prison for her involvement in a human trafficking ring. Other girls who passed through the care of the Kansas Department for Children and Families also were exploited and locked up.

Kansas added thousands of children to the state foster care system as former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and his appointed DCF secretary, Phyllis Gilmore, imposed policies that reduced aid to struggling families. The number of children who went missing nearly doubled in a three-year period as the scarcity of long-term homes created severe instability that plagued the foster care system.

Social workers and researchers say those who run away from foster care are vulnerable to sex traffickers who want to exploit them especially teenage girls who crave a connection as they struggle to process trauma.

Karen Countryman-Roswurm, director of the Center for Combating Human Trafficking at Wichita State University, is advocating within the legal system for 13 girls who ran away from DCF or state custody in recent years and ended up incarcerated for crimes related to human trafficking. The girls never should have been charged, Countryman-Roswurm said, because they were victims who were under the control of a sex trafficker.

Were seeing an increase in the criminalization of the very populations that we intended to serve, largely because people only know enough about trafficking to be dangerous, Countryman-Roswurm said.

[Related: How Kansas failed a girl named Hope, who went from sex trafficking victim to prison]

Personal accounts from three of those 13 girls affirm the failings of the Kansas foster care system and the lasting effects on their well-being. The Topeka Capital-Journal and KCUR generally don't identify victims of sexual abuse, and survivors of sex trafficking who were interviewed for this story asked not to be named because they fear retaliation from law enforcement, probation officers and other state officials.

"A lot of victims, they don't say anything and they just burn inside because no one cares to even ask," said one of the survivors, a 17-year-old girl. "When someone asks you about what really happened and they really empathize and they really show you that they care, then that's when people speak up about the issue. All it takes is for one person that asks you, 'Are you OK?' or, 'What's wrong?'"

Child advocates are cautious about whether changes taking place under the administration of Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat who took office in January, can help repair a broken system. DCF in May, responding to outrage over the number of kids lost by the foster care system during the Brownback years, launched a 10-member special response team tasked with preventing, recovering and engaging runaway children.

Kelly selected Laura Howard, a veteran of social welfare work who received bipartisan support from the Legislature, to oversee restoration of a system in crisis.

Time and time again, children fell through the cracks, Kelly said. Over the past eight years, we saw countless children who fell victim to their circumstances who were subsequently victimized again by a failed system and incompetent leadership. I have charged secretary Howard with putting in place safeguards so that this does not happen again. We owe that to these kids.

Moral foundation

Child advocates and legislators, including then-Sen. Kelly, were disturbed to learn during an October 2017 hearing about escalating numbers of youths who had run away from the child welfare system.

They were stunned by the revelation Gilmore didnt know some of the children were missing. Gilmore, who would announce her retirement three weeks later, explained the overall rate of runaways was in line with the national average of 1% of the total population of foster kids.

Benet Magnuson, executive director of the Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, was troubled by Gilmores leadership and damage inflicted across the child welfare system. Last year, his organization filed a class action lawsuit alleging DCF is putting kids in danger.

Magnuson said problems in foster care are linked to steep cuts to social welfare programs because those cuts hurt struggling families. Data tracked by Kansas Appleseed show the state during Brownbacks administration lowered annual expenses for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by $142.9 million. The state cut $38.9 million in annual costs from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and $32.6 million from the Child Care Assistance Program.

Changes to the budget in 2016 reduced annual funding for community health centers by $30 million and lowered Medicaid reimbursement rates by 4%.

After pushing those families over the edge, Magnuson said, the state takes custody of those kids, and after taking custody of the kids subjects them to a dangerously extreme placement instability, denies them mental health services, and then when those traumatized kids fairly predictably run away, Kansas criminalizes them.

To say it shocks the conscience would be an understatement. This really strikes at the moral foundation of who we are as a state."

The volume of children in the Kansas foster care system swelled from 5,214 in fiscal year 2011, when Brownback took office, to 7,484 in the most recent fiscal year, which ended July 1 a 43.5% increase.

An investigation by The Capital-Journal and KCUR found the rate of runaways surged as the addition of more children in foster care overwhelmed child placement contractors.

DCF tracks the number of children who cant be accounted for each day and produces monthly and yearly averages. The average number of runaways at any point in time for fiscal year 2015 was 46, or 0.74% of the 6,257 children within the system. By fiscal year 2018, the average number of runaways was 81, or 1.1% of the 7,371 kids in foster care.

One of the runaways, now 21, already was being exploited for sex when she entered DCF custody at age 13. For her, the foster care system felt endless.

"It was really hard for me to stop running away or follow what they say," she said, "because it wasn't like these are your goals and then when you complete these goals you're good and you're going to go home. It wasn't like that. It was like ... you're never going to go home, and we're going to keep you forever."

She was charged with sex trafficking at age 17 and incarcerated for two years.

DCF in fiscal year 2016 introduced a new metric for the placement stability of children within the foster care system. Monthly reports track the number of times a child changes location from one home to the next. The rate is reflected as the number of moves per 1,000 days in foster care.

The nationwide performance standard for placement stability is 4.12 moves per 1,000 days. In 2016, the statewide rate in Kansas was 6.6. By 2019, the rate had climbed to 9.7. All of the children within the system, on average, are changing homes every three and a half months.

Vickie McArthur, clinical director for reintegration, foster care and adoption at Saint Francis Ministries, which provides child placement services in Kansas, said the rapid influx of children who needed a place to stay created instability because organizations like hers struggled to recruit and sustain long-term homes.

"There's some bouncing that happens, McArthur said. What that means, by what we term bouncing, is that they're going from emergency home to emergency home night after night. You do that for a little while, and the youths say: 'We're done. We're not doing this. We could take better care of ourselves on the street.'"

Life is risky for a runaway. McArthur said some of the children have street survival skills by the time they arrive in foster care, but these children know how to cope because they can disassociate with what they have to do to survive.

I can't even put a number on the youths that have been involved in what has traditionally been known as survival sex, when you are trading yourself for a bed in a house so that I'm not sleeping outside in the cold or the rain, McArthur said. That oftentimes can lead to, OK, for you to continue to stay here, now you need to exchange sex with my friends and they'll pay me."

Tanya Keys, deputy DCF secretary tasked with addressing the runaway issue, has a point of view different from the one Gilmore expressed at the 2017 hearing. For Keys, one missing child is too many.

"We know that for youths who have instability, if they are not able to stay somewhere more than one night, that can create a greater likelihood of a run behavior because they're not feeling perhaps, as they define it they're not feeling that connection, Keys said. They're not getting their needs met, or maybe they don't feel safe by staying someplace different every night. So they are more likely to run."

Fighting by myself

The 17-year-old survivor of sex exploitation, who was taken away from her alcoholic mother at age 10, was offered a series of plea deals for aggravated human trafficking when she was 15 years old. The first offer from prosecutors was 15 years in prison.

The girl struggled to navigate her legal options within the confines of juvenile detention, where she couldn't contact her mentors. She was discouraged from calling her mother, who was hospitalized with illness.

"My mom ended up passing away while I was in jail," she said. "So afterward, I just was fighting by myself and I just said that, you know, I'm tired and I have nobody else to advocate for me. I don't know the legal system. I don't know what to do anymore, and I couldn't talk to anybody."

She eventually agreed to a deal that would keep her in jail for two years, then require her to register as a sex offender.

McArthur said many children end up in foster care because they experienced trauma at home. Just being taken away from a parent is traumatic, McArthur said, but most of the children in foster care have enough protective factors surrounding them to help absorb trauma without impacting their day-to-day functions.

Others, perhaps 20%, McArthur said, do not have a clue how to absorb the trauma that they have walked through."

Human traffickers know what to look for.

"Movies have portrayed that a child is taken off of the street or kidnapped in a white van by a gorilla pimp and beaten into submission, McArthur said. That happens. Don't get me wrong, that does happen. But sometimes for our youths that's not what's happening. They get themselves into these very vulnerable situations without even realizing it until they're in too late and then can move into the exploiter having the youth find other youths that are similar to them that need a place to stay.

It can be very subtle and very seductive to a youth who is just trying to survive on the street. So our runaway population, we are very aware, are much more vulnerable to being caught or invited into human trafficking."

Keys said 10 children who entered the Kansas foster care system last year were victims of human trafficking.

Other cases of human trafficking within the foster care system were investigated through tips placed at the Kansas child protection call center. Keys said 45,000 reports are assigned based on calls to the center each year, with 0.4%, or fewer than 200, relating to commercial sex exploitation.

When a child runs away, the state is required to notify law enforcement within two hours. The state sends a photo and contact information for parents and friends to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children within 24 hours.

Social workers also notify the school and family. Members of the special response team ensure rigorous, daily outreach, including the use of social media tools.

Children who are located are placed in a safe location, which could be with a friend or family member, a street outreach program or an emergency shelter. Under federal guidelines, the child is given a health assessment, as well as a human trafficking assessment.

McArthur said social workers will want to know what the recovered children were doing and where they stayed when on the run. Who were they connected with? What happened to them? Were they running from something or to someone, like a boyfriend, friend or parent?

"A lot of kiddos do not tell us upfront what's gone on and if they are under the control of someone else who is trafficking them, McArthur said. Their exterior can become very crusty and suspicious, so they don't share. And there are some loyalty binds that they get themselves into as the trafficker begins to demand more and more loyalty of them."

Its not surprising

McArthur said the impulse to rebel is inherent in teenagers and a part of adolescent development.

Children in foster care may struggle to follow or learn the rules of a new home. Restrictions could include when they can watch TV, how long they stay out at night, what they wear to school, acceptable hairstyles, or what they eat.

"We bring them out of the home, put them into child welfare, and we then begin to control everything, McArthur said. So the child response to that is much like a 2-year-old when you tell them no. They want to explore. They want to have some freedom, which is totally appropriate."

Keys, the DCF official, said foster kids like all of us have a desire to connect. They may feel unsafe. The children who run away, she said, are trying to solve a problem, such as a conflict at school or with a caregiver. Those who enter the system at ages 16 and 17 are more at risk.

The older the age that you enter foster care, Keys said, the more likely you are to have placement instability."

Amy Dworsky, a research fellow with the University of Chicago whose work is focused on child welfare services and strategies to improve outcomes, said the instability foster kids experience in Kansas is concerning.

"That's a lot of change in a young person's life, Dworsky said. And I mean, just thinking about it developmentally, it's not surprising that young people would be running from that type of circumstance."

Dworksy has identified warning signs for youths who may be inclined to run away from foster care. States that perform a flight risk assessment as children enter the foster care system have lower rates of runaways, she said.

In addition to the age of a child, race and gender matter. Dworskys research has found that African American and Hispanic youths are more likely to run away than youths who are white, and girls are more likely to run away than boys.

The odds of running away are higher for children placed in group homes, where they may become easy targets for human traffickers. Group homes tend to have constant changes in staff, Dworsky said, and there is no single person who is always there for a child, like there would be with a foster parent.

The staff at group homes also tend to be underpaid and overworked, Dworsky said.

"If there's going to be a lot of cuts in services, then, yeah, people's needs are not going to be met, Dworsky said. So I'm thinking of needs like mental health, substance abuse those kinds of service needs. And if those needs are not being met, young people are going to run because, 'Why am I going to stay here? No one's taking care of me.'"

Keys believes Kansas new special response team, which includes two full-time employees at DCF and eight grant-based positions with partners across the state, can make a difference. The team was conceived last year when Gina Meier-Hummel served as DCF secretary under former Gov. Jeff Colyer, a Republican who took over in February 2018 when Brownback left to become the U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom.

The response teams work includes finding out what is important to children in state care. The children might be motivated by a class in school or a job they like, for example.

Children who are motivated, Keys said, feel safe, connected, and maybe not as lonely.

In April, the number of runaways was in the 90s. Now, the number of children in state care who cant be accounted for is below 60.

"Certainly, we do feel the gravity and want all children and youths, young persons, to feel safe and that they have access to the support they need, Keys said. So we look forward to continued improvement. We do feel the responsibility and understand the responsibility."

Im a human

John Wilson, of the nonprofit Kansas Action for Children, said the Brownback administration didnt take the time to look at the data and enlist research experts who could help make the best policy decisions.

"Kids are being taken away, for all intents and purposes, for being poor, Wilson said. They don't have enough to split among the household. It gets so stressful that they make terrible choices, but some of them are impossible choices they have to make.

The state does not make a great parent, and we need to do all that we can to keep kids with their families while also keeping them safe. One of the best ways to do that is to make sure basic needs are met for those families."

Wilson said the best steps the state could take moving forward would include increased access to family support programs that help people pay for food, pay their bills, and put their kids in child care.

Magnuson, of Kansas Appleseed, said he hasnt seen enough progress under the new administration.

"This is not an exaggeration: Every day, I get at least one email from a foster parent, a foster kid, a social worker, wanting to talk about the terrible thing that they are experiencing, that they're seeing right now in the foster care system, Magnuson said.

Kimberly Bender, a professor at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work whose research is focused on homeless youths, said there is no quick fix.

Children who are removed from parents need to enter a system where caretakers will get to know them and help them feel safe, Bender said. The children instead enter systems constrained by time and resources. They are disconnected from social networks and meet strangers who take advantage of them.

Those with power, including funders and administrators, need to structure systems so that young people are truly known for who they are and engaged as partners in setting and reaching their own goals, Bender said. Providers need the time and flexibility to do the work in the way they know they need to, in a way that sees young people as individuals with aspirations and potential rather than problems to be fixed.

McArthur said social workers in Kansas are trying to equip foster children with the ability to recognize and value a healthy relationship.

You have to remember, McArthur said, a lot of these youths do not have the experience that, Adults will take care of me. So then I go out on the street. I've got somebody who may be buying me some pretty nice clothes that I've always wanted and never got to have. I've got food in my belly. I get to get high or on drugs whenever I want to.

So some of it is breaking through that whole cognitive scheme that, This is how I am taken care of, or, This is all that I deserve because of the experiences I've had in my life. We really have to work hard with lots of cognitive behavioral processes that then begin to start allowing that child to see themselves in a different light."

One of the survivors of sex trafficking, the 17-year-old who spent two years in juvenile lockup, wants to be seen in a different light, but most people view her as a perpetrator.

"Be open minded and have a heart," she said. "See this through as if I was one of your own kids. Treat me like I'm a human. Don't treat me like I'm just an it."

This story is part of a partnership between KCUR and The Topeka Capital-Journal, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in collaboration with APM Reports, the investigative reporting unit of American Public Media.

Peggy Lowe is a reporter at KCUR. Shes on Twitter @peggyllowe.

Sherman Smith is a reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. Hes on Twitter at @sherman_news.

Geoff Hing of APM Reports contributed to this story. He's on Twitter at @geoffhing.

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Kansas foster care instability led to surge in runaways, left children vulnerable to sex traffickers - The Ottawa Herald

FOX Business' Elizabeth MacDonald discusses the Democratic Partys inability to challenge President Trump on economic issues.

Twelve Democratic presidential hopefuls took the debate stage Tuesday night and espoused a flurry of terrible economic policy proposals. While not a comprehensive list, heres one concerned Americans thoughts on their seven most glaring mistakes and omissions regarding the economy.

From left, Democratic presidential candidates, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, businessman Tom Steyer, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.,

Lets start with a glaring omission: No one proposed a plan to grow the economy.

Not one candidate said anything like, Heres how Ill encourage American entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, creating jobs and the competition for employees that drives wage growth for working Americans.

Instead, every policy proposal boiled down to dividing our economic pie into smaller pieces.Rather than proposing to grow that pie, the candidates simply assumed economic growth would continue - as if it were a given. Its not.

Instead, every policy proposal boiled down to dividing our economic pie into smaller pieces.Rather than proposing to grow that pie, the candidates simply assumed economic growth would continue - as if it were a given. Its not.

Every proposed solution was based on empowering government, diminishing our freedom, increasing our taxes, regulating our businesses and creating massive unprecedented - government dependence.

No matter how benevolent they might sound, we should all be suspicious of anyone who asks us to sacrifice our freedoms, expand and empower the government and then put them in charge. Do we really trust our politicians that much?

For example, Medicare-for-all.Even assuming we wanted to eliminate all private insurance, could we pay for it?

The Mercatus Center, a think tank at George Mason University, conservatively found that Medicare-for-all would cost taxpayers $32.6 trillion over a 10-year period, even with associated cost savings, an average of about $3.26 trillion per year.

The federal governments total revenue for fiscal year 2018 was $3.3 trillion and even that was insufficient to cover the governments existing expenses -- which totaled $4.1 trillion.

No wonder Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., refused to answer any questions about increasing taxes for the middle class. As Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., admitted, they would and a lot.

In addition to Medicare-for-all, we have the Green New Deal. In addition to severe restrictions on our freedoms and an unprecedented expansion of government power, a study by The American Action Forum, co-authored by the former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, found that the GND could cost as much as $93 trillion over a ten year period. The GND includes universal health care, so were looking at an average of about $9 trillion per year.

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Again, thats with current government revenue of $3.3 trillion that is already insufficient to cover $4.1 trillion in spending. Seriously, where do these candidates think this money will come from?

One proposal they all support is getting rid of those pesky Trump tax cuts to increase income taxes on the wealthy. Well, in 2016 (the most recent year for which the numbers are available), taxpayers making over about $500,000 had total income of $2 trillion. So, even a 100% tax on the wealthy would be insufficient to fund just Medicare-for-all, let alone the whole GND package.

And thats assuming wealthy people would continue generating income if they had to pay it all to the government. Just an FYI, they wouldnt. That puts us back to taxing the middle class a lot.

How about an additional wealth tax on assets, as both Warren and Sanders propose?

Wealth taxes dont work. In 1990, there were 12 countries in Europe that had a wealth tax. Today there are three. These taxes failed because, among other things, they push people - and their wealth to other more tax-friendly countries.They are costly to enforce, and raise little revenue.

Think about it. Over 25 years, the cumulative effect of even a 2% annual tax on wealth (as Warren proposes) would result in taxes equivalent to about 40% of that wealth. If you could move to a more tax-friendly nation and keep that 40%, wouldnt you move?

Wealthy people can - and do.

Perhaps the crowning mistake on the debate stage last night was the failure of any candidate to acknowledge that, under President Trumps free market policies the very policies these Democrats would reverse - things are actually going better than they have in decades for working Americans.

More Americans are employed than at any time in our nations history, the unemployment rate is at a 50-year low, and the competition for employees is driving wage growth. In September, workers wages increased 3.5% year over year, the 14th consecutive month workers wages have been at or above 3%. Prior to this streak, workers wages hadnt hit 3% growth since May of 2009.

Given this wage growth, and despite what you heard on the debate stage, in September the Census Bureau reported that an analysis of household income -- that considered the actual size of each household -- showed a significant decrease in income inequality last year. The Census Bureau describes the survey supporting this finding as the leading source for national data on income and poverty.

Didnt hear anything about that last night, did we?

This election is increasingly about a choice between continued economic growth and improved financial circumstances for working Americans or policies that we cannot pay for, that cannot work, and that ignore one truly American principal: Free individuals pursuing their dreams, create wealth and prosperity.

Big government does not.

Andy Puzder was chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants for more than 16 years, following a career as an attorney. He was nominated by President Trump to serve as U.S. labor secretary. In 2011, Puzder co-authored "Job Creation: How It Really Works and Why Government Doesn't Understand It." His latest book is "The Capitalist Comeback: The Trump Boom and the Left's Plot to Stop It" (Center Street, April 24, 2018).

Excerpt from:

Andy Puzder: Here are the 7 most ridiculous economic proposals from the Dem debate - Fox Business

Left: President Ronald Reagan delivers his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Dallas, August 23, 1984. Right: Donald Trump does the same in Cleveland, July 21, 2016.(White House / National Archives; Carlo Allegri / Reuters)

In the 1990s, everyone said the same thing about American conservatism: For decades, the conservative movement was held together by anti-Communism. All the disparate elements were connected by anti-Communism. What connects them now?

The same question may be posed today. I think of two immediate answers. First, to be a conservative is to be anti-Left, as George Will says. Thats not nothing (as he also says). In fact, thats a big thing. And the second answer? By and large, we are anti-abortion. Thats also a big thing. A momentous thing.

And beyond those...?

Returning to Will, he says that to be a conservative an American conservative is to defend the Founding. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, in particular. The first of those documents contains what some think of as the American idea: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with...

Now, hang on a minute. Increasingly, I meet young people who call themselves integralists or post-liberals. They believe that the American Founding was a tragic mistake. They favor some sort of church-state government, though some are too shy to be explicit about their hearts desire. (I suspect they will get bolder more candid which is welcome.) They are more Franco than Jefferson, more Orbn than Reagan more Pat Buchanan than Will or Charles Krauthammer.

There has long been a distinction between American conservatism and European rightism. More Americans favor the latter than I once would have guessed.

Conservatives or people identifying as conservative differ sharply on economics. Some are for free enterprise, free trade a free economy generally. The American Enterprise Institute still has the E-word enterprise as its middle name. It is not embarrassed, so far as I know. Other conservatives are much more statist, and anti-trade. Some say Wall Street with the same sneer as the Left.

Related to this is the size of government the size and scope of government, as we used to say. How big should the federal government be and what are its proper responsibilities? How far, and how wide, should its reach be?

This past summer, a caller to Rush Limbaugh mentioned our $1 trillion budget deficit. Trump doesnt really care about that, the caller said. Hes not really a fiscal conservative. The Great One El Rushbo said, Nobody is a fiscal conservative anymore. All this talk about concern for the deficit and the budget has been bogus for as long as its been around.

I recall the fight between the Bob Dole conservatives and the Jack Kemp conservatives. (Amazingly, those two men joined to form the 1996 GOP ticket.) Kemp & Co. said the Dole-ites were green-eyeshade Republicans with no imagination. They were like dentists, specializing in root canal. Dole & Co. said that the Kempites were irresponsible children who would bankrupt the country.

(Personally, I saw both points of view, though I leaned Kemp.)

Today, some of my colleagues want what they call a workers party. For a symbol, I would suggest a hammer and sickle, but that has been taken. (The hammer stands for labor manufacturing, for example and the sickle for Great Patriot Farmers.) The old Daily Worker is no longer in circulation, so that name is available.

In foreign policy, of course, we are all over the map. Some conservatives still press for American engagement in the world and American leadership in the world. We think it is in the U.S. interest, and good for the world, to boot. Think of what has happened in Syria in recent days: the green light to the Turks; the slaughter of our onetime Kurdish allies; the freeing of ISIS prisoners. American leadership, or American abdication, makes a difference.

Other conservatives long for normalcy, in Warren G. Hardings word. They think America has borne too great a burden, paid too great a price. Though they might not put it this way, they want America to be another pleasant country on the U.N. roll call, somewhere between Albania and Zimbabwe. (I have quoted Bush the Elders criticism of Michael Dukakis, in 1988.)

We have very different ideas of immigrants and refugees. (I addressed the issue of refugees in a post two weeks ago, here.) All of us, I believe, are against illegal immigration, and for measures to eliminate or reduce illegal immigration from e-verify to a Wall. But we differ strongly on legal immigration: the value of it, the place of it in the American story, its role in American greatness.

Make America Great Again. What is meant by great? There is no consensus on that question.

There is no consensus on patriotism either. (I addressed that here.) Many on the right are calling themselves nationalists. Trump told a rally in Texas, You know what I am? Im a nationalist, okay? Im a nationalist. Nationalist! Use that word! Use that word! The Trump Right has revived an old word, an old epithet: cosmopolitan. They also deploy globalist. And, naturally, they have revived America First.

Can any Reaganite have partnership with any of that?

As we have seen, there are still times when the Right unites: in defense of Brett Kavanaugh, for example. Against the NBA, when it kowtows to China (but not against Trump, when he congratulates the Party on its 70 years of dictatorship, or when he asks the Party to investigate his domestic political rivals). We can jump on Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old autistic girl from Sweden who is the symbol of global-warming activism.

These are moments of unity. They come and go. What stays? Abortion does (though there are people on the right who are comfortable with legal abortion). And, again, we are broadly anti-Left. The Right is anti-Left by definition.

All of us are against political correctness. All of us are against the nuttiness the nasty nuttiness that rules many American campuses.

This nuttiness is extending to the mainstream of the Democratic party, as we see in the Democrats presidential politics. Elizabeth Warren may well be that partys nominee. Kamala Harris, another senator-candidate, gave her pronouns the other night.

What else? What else might fall under the rubric anti-Left? We are for judicial restraint (though rare is the person who wont accept some activism when it favors his side). We are for energy exploration, including fracking. That is big. Important. Not very long ago, we could have said that we defended the FBI and the CIA against their defamers. Oops. We were for character in office for family values and virtue. Oops again. Then there is Putin and the Kremlin...

Maybe it will be enough to be anti-abortion. Maybe it will be enough to be anti-Left (while making exceptions for Chairman Kim and others). Maybe those things will be enough to keep conservatives together, in some roomy tent a very roomy tent. I dont know. I worry that Americas political options will come down to a pink-hued statism and populism and a brown-hued statism and populism.

The thing about big government and populism theyre popular.

I dont know about you, but Ive come to believe that the constituency for freedom is pretty small. Everyone wants freedom for himself, of course. But lots of people, Im afraid, would like to bring others to heel. Freedom for me, not for thee. Do it my way. Heads I win, tails you lose.

This is an age-old human problem, puzzled over by wiser heads than mine some of them wigged and Im done typing for now.

Here is the original post:

What Unites the Right? - National Review

Democratic presidential candidate, entrepreneur Andrew Yang could be the first American President to propose policies that legitimize the use of blockchains to solve some of the country's most pressing issues. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Im generally a pretty level-headed person. I dont get star struck, and I dont fawn over celebrities. But last month, when I ran into Andrew Yang in a Manhattan restaurant, I felt like a kid meeting Iron Man at Disney World.

Being a Canadian, Ive always taken a somewhat passive interest in following the reality show-like entertainment that passes for the US elections recently. But this time around, I find myself captivated by this candidate who by all accounts should not be standing on the same stage as career politicians.

Andrew Yang has not only brought a different perspective into an age-old discussion, hes also demonstrated an understanding and appreciation of things that are new, and technologies that could fundamentally change our lives. Putting AI and robots aside for a minute, try having a conversation about Bitcoin, Libra, Aion or Ethereum with 76 year old Joe Biden or 78 year old Bernie Sanders - kids these days, and the things theyll dream up on the interweb Im paraphrasing of course.

You dont have to be a partisan Democrat to be inspired by Yangs candidacy. I certainly am not one in fact I have historically supported fiscal policies that are more conservative than what is currently being debated in the Democratic primary. What excites me most about Yangs platform is the obvious relevance to how the blockchain could be used to roll out some of his key ideas.

Consider Yangs proposed Freedom Dividend the $1,000 per month payment to every adult American. Whatever you think of the policy, the payments themselves could be implemented using what the blockchain industry has come to know as airdrops. Imagine a system that not only automates distributions, but also places rules and considerations on how these payments should be calculated and ultimately used by the recipients not to mention the ease with which we could automate the compliance and tax implications of these payments.

Yang has also proposed Democracy Dollars a program that would provide $100 to every voting-age American to contribute to a campaign or campaigns of their choice, at any level of government. The programs goal is to reduce the influence of large donors and corporations on campaigns. You probably see where I am going with this once again, the most efficient way to execute such a program would be a blockchain, where the form of contribution could be rules-based and programmatically enforced and verified.

Perhaps most interesting among Yangs policy ideas is the still undefined concept of data as property rights. This is a timely and important concept in an era of near constant data breaches, and with an entire industry built on the backs of our personal data. But its still unclear how such a policy could ever be feasible. At the end of the day, your data will always exist on a companys servers, and remain vulnerable to what that company allows to happen to it or, not? Associating age-old property rights to modern data requires a new type of data infrastructure unowned and unmanipulated by centralized entities, including the government. Such a system should be built on the blockchain; permitting individuals to demonstrate ownership of their data, manage how and when its used, and where relevant, monetize it.

Beyond his current platform, as the digital asset economy continues to grow in relative size to the American and global economy, its encouraging to imagine a President who could think constructively about how to best manage this change and prepare the economy for this inevitability.

Whoever the next US President is, they will need to fundamentally understand the issues facing our technology sector, and how these impact society more broadly. For some candidates, the simple yet ill-informed answer will be to go down the path of additional regulation, or even going as far as Elizabeth Warren in proposing the break-up of the countrys biggest tech companies. These policies are just knee-jerk reactions to a much more complicated challenge. To prepare the country for the challenges and opportunities of the 21stcentury, we need to look to technological solutions of the 21stcentury. Anything short of this will simply be a country taking its first steps towards a slow decline in global economic leadership.

I wish I could say with confidence that, short of American leadership, Canada could be counted on to step up and demonstrate an openness to this new data revolution were preparing to enter, but Im not so naive. So my best bet is to turn my optimism to our BBQ-eating neighbors. But I suspect that will only be the case under a newly elected President Yang.

Hopefully next time I meet him, Ill be able to call him that.

Andrew Yang saying hi to a couple of blockchain entrepreneurs in Manhattan. Yours truly

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Andrew Yangs America Should Be Built On The Blockchain - Forbes

An election poster for the right-leaning People's Party of Canada hangs next to a left turn traffic sign in Pointe-Claire.Kramberger

While voters in the Lac-St-Louis riding can opt to mark an X for an animal-rights party, those in neighbouring DorvalLachineLaSalle can opt for a party named after a horned mammal.

Undecided West Island voters who may not be inspired by the six main political parties, some of which are perennial long shots or are currently hovering at under five per cent in polls in local ridings, should note there are alternative or fringe options available at the ballot box in the Oct. 21 federal election.

Victoria de Martigny, a professional photographer who resides in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, is the Lac-St-Louis candidate for the Animal Protection Party of Canada, which only has one other candidate running in Quebec. She is concerned about laboratory testing done on animals as well as the animal agricultural industry. She objects to government subsidies given to dairy, egg and poultry farmers.

Animal agricultural is the leading contributor to climate change in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, water and air pollution, water depletion and species extinction and so on, de Martigny said, adding that the Animal Protection Party addresses these issue in its platform.

De Martigny is realistic about her slim chances of being elected as an MP, but she believes its important to promote her partys values.

The Rhinoceros party, a satirical political movement, has Xavier Watso registered as a candidate in DorvalLachineLaSalle.

We will fill the coffers of the state by allowing advertising in the Senate and the House of Commons, is one of the Rhinos self-described unrealistic campaign promises.

In PierrefondsDollard, Shahid Khan and Martin Plante are running as independent candidates, not to be confused with the Bloc Qubcois, the pro-separatist party that sends representatives to Ottawa to fight for Quebec.

Plante, a businessman from Kirkland, said he decided to run because he viewed the main political parties as discouraging voting options.

We need to vote. As Canadians we have this freedom, he said. But lets be honest, the candidates that are out there and also the parties are not necessarily representing the people.

Plante said he represents an alternative voice for voters frustrated by the party system. He advocates by campaigning door-door, election signs and through his website for better fiscal accountability and reducing needless taxation.

Plante said that in order to restore faith in government, elected officials must plan to look after the Regular Joe the guy who goes to work everyday, who has kids.

No matter the choice, lets hope West Islanders exercise their democratic right and vote Oct. 21.

kramberger@postmedia.com

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Kramberger: West Islanders have voting options on the fringe - Montreal Gazette

History suggests the NDP and Greens have little chance of winning either of Kelowna's two federal ridings on Monday.

But history is so over, Green candidate Travis Ashley says.

"I don't feel like the underdog," Ashley, a 26-year-old father of two said an election forum Wednesday morning. "We're making waves, taking great steps forward."

Ashley styled himself a "truth-teller" who enjoys being honest with Canadians about the need to transition to a low-carbon economy. He said he was tired of "half truths and needless gibbering" engaged in by other candidates.

Fellow Green candidate Robert Mellalieu also mocked what he said was the other parties' insistence on the use of the word 'You' in their election campaigning.

A better approach, Mellalieu said, would be for governments to look seven generations into the future when making important public policy decisions.

At the forum sponsored by the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce, the Greens said they would not proceed with the twinning of the Trans-Mountain pipeline, and would invest more in environmentally friendly technologies. The biggest misconception about their party, they said, is that was it was only focused on the environment.

"Our whole platform is about the economy," Ashley said, explaining a Green government would reduce red tape for business and abolish tuition for students so they enter the workforce debt-free.

Supporting the construction of pipelines, Melllalieu said, was an irresponsible use of public money in a sunset industry, akin to "investing in Blockbuster Video."

For her part, NDP candidate Joan Phillip stressed the party's goals of introducing a national Pharmacare prescription drug plan, supporting more day care spaces, building 500,0000 new homes and increasing seniors' benefits

"We need a government that has heart and will work for all of us, not just the top one per cent," Phillip said.

Justin Kulik, the other local NDP candidate, did not attend the forum.

People's Party of Canada candidates John Barr and Allan Duncan said they favoured reducing the size of government, building the Trans-Mountain pipeline, doing more to ensure and protect freedom of speech, and reducing immigration.

If the new party can get a foothold in Parliament, Duncan said, it could ensure these issues were given some regard by whichever party wins the election. In much the same way, he said, the fledgling Reform Party in the late '80s and early '90s had helped to persuade the Liberal government of the need to practice fiscal restraint.

Independent candidate Daniel Joseph drew a laugh when he said, "We all know I'm not getting elected". But he said he entered the race, in part, to ensure there were discussions of issues like homelessness and the opioid crisis.

Silverado Socrates, the other independent candidate, said she believed in "peace through tourism."

Original post:

History is in the past: candidate | News - The Daily Courier

Welcome to Jewish Voice for Peaces monthly Health and Human Rights Media Watch.Members of the Health Advisory Council monitor relevant organizations and websites and compile a list of important news and issues which are summarized here.

Treating drug-resistant infections in Gaza under the blockadeMedicin Sans Frontieres 2 Sept. 2019-More than 7,400 Palestinians have been injured by live ammunition during protests in Gaza. About half of those suffering from open fractures, in which the bone is broken near the wound. More than 1,000 of them have developed bone infections; these serious and complex wounds require months if not years of dressing, surgery, and physiotherapy. Infections prevent recovery and many of them are resistant to antibiotics. To prevent the spread of resistant bacteria, those with resistant infections have to be isolated in a single room for six weeks. Everyone entering the room must wear protective clothing and clean their hands. MSF has developed the first lab in Gaza that is able to analyze bone samples. Read more: Mondoweiss

Palestinian protester injured by Israeli sniper fire dies in hospitalPeoples Dispatch 2 Sept. 2019-A Palestinian protester shot by Israeli security forces during the weekly Great March of Return protests in August, succumbed to his injuries at the Gaza European Hospital. According to sources, he was shot by an Israeli army sharpshooter in the southern part of the Gaza strip.More than 6,000 Palestinians participated in the August protests.

17-year old Ali al-Ashqar killed at Gaza protestElectronic Intifada 30 Sept. 2019-Ali al-Ashqar, age 17, a young participant of the Great March of Return, threw one stone on September 6 while standing 80 meters from the separation wall in Gaza. He was immediately shot by an Israeli sniper who prevented medics from reaching him before he bled to death.

Gaza childrens mental health rapidly deterioratingNorwegian Refugee Council 25 March 2019-A study conducted by the Norwegian Refugee Council found that 68 percent of schoolchildren in areas close to the Israeli perimeter fence has clear indications of psycho-social distress. The majority said they were most severely affected by the sounds of nearby explosions and media images of conflict in Gaza. One year since the start of mass protests along the perimeter fence with Israel, children have reported witnessing violence first hand, as well as knowing people who have been injured, killed or lost their homes. Fifty-four percent said they had no hope for a brighter future. Eighty-one percent of children struggle academically due to conflict-related stress.

Qatar Red Crescent backs healthcare sector in GazaThe Gulf Times 1 Sept. 2019-Qatar Red Crescent is implementing a mega project to enhance the health sector in Gaza, by providing medical expertise and training to staff. The multifaceted project involves hiring consultants in pulmonology, internal medicine, cardiothoracic surgery, neonatology, and urology. Other capacity-building components of the program include MA in Mental Health at the Al Quds University (Abu Dis campus) and Diploma in Anesthesia and Intensive Care at the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG). Read more: The Peninsula

Unclaimed rockets sent across Gazas frontier prompt Israeli authorities to cut electrical power in sweltering summer heatMiddle East Eye 26 August 2019-The impact of power cuts is felt in almost every aspect of the life of Gazas residents. Food can no longer be kept in the fridge, staying at home is unbearable due to the heat, and even the simple task of visiting relatives would have to depend on the highly unreliable electricity schedule. Businesses, schools, and hospitals are disrupted and the majority of people cannot afford a generator.

Another fatal attack on a Palestinian woman occurred near a checkpoint in Ramallah on September 28Electronic Intifada 18 Sept. 2019-Israeli forces shot 28-year-old Alaa Wahdan in the legs and prevented Palestinian Red Crescent personnel from providing timely medical treatment.

The murder of a young Palestinian woman by her family has sparked widespread protests against misogyny, honor killings, and the Israeli occupation+972 Magazine 23 Sept. 2019-One consequence of the murder of Israa Gharib has been a campaign for a new law against gender violence in the West Bank.

Israeli raids office of Palestinian prisoner rights groupMiddle East Eye Sept. 19 2019-Addameer sees this raid as a part of ongoing and systematic attacks against the Palestinian civil society organization, said the Palestinian prisoner rights group Addameer in a statement published by Middle East Eye. Addameer reassures that those constant raids will not stand in the face of any duties the organization has for Palestinian political prisoners.

Constant fires of trash and waste, much if it acquired from Israel, is contaminating fields where sheep once grazed in the southern West BankThe New York Times 12 Sept. 2019-In villages in the Hebron area an estimated 80% of households rely directly or indirectly on handling electronic waste to survive. On the villages outskirts and along the separation wall where Israeli and Palestinian security is largely absent the burning of cables, useless e-waste scraps and trash have blackened the soil and saturated once fertile pastures with what Dr. Garb calls a witches brew of contaminants.

UN High Commissioner should immediately release Settlement Business DatabaseHuman rights Watch 23 Sept. 2019-Almost 4 years have passed since the UN Human Rights Council approved without opposition resolution 31/36 mandating the establishment of a database of businesses that are engaged in certain, specific activities in the occupied Palestinian territory that are either explicitly linked to Israeli settlements or form part of processes that enable and support the establishment, expansion and maintenance of Israeli residential communities beyond the Green Line. HRW has requested that the High Commissioner release the data before the end of the current session.

Israeli Supreme Court will hear arguments against deportation of Human Rights Watchs Israel and Palestine Director, accused of promoting boycottNPR 23 Sept. 2019-The Israeli Supreme Court will hear HRWs appeal of a deportation order against its Israel and Palestine Director, Omar Shakir. Israel has caricatured HRWs call on companies to stop doing business in settlements in order to avoid contributing to rights abuses, as promoting boycotts, and sought to deport Shakir from the country. HRW argues that these are attempts to stifle criticism and should be a concern for all who care about democracy, human rights and freedom of expression in Israel. Amnesty International recently joined the appeal, citing potential ramifications for them and other rights groups. Read more: Haaretz

Israels fiscal standoff impacts environment and health of Palestinians.Down to Earth 11 Sept. 2019-180 Palestinian communities in the West Bank (more than 20 percent) lack access to good quality water, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and UN Conference on Trade and Development ((UNCTAD). Among those living in East Jerusalem, only 44 percent are formally connected to the water network. The oPt is also facing serious public health risks with Israel dumping large amounts of hazardous waste including sewage sludge, infectious medical waste, used oils, solvents, metals, and electronic waste and batteries. The shortage of electricity, destruction, and disrepair of the sanitation infrastructure has severely affected the environment in Gaza. More than 100 million liters of untreated sewage is discharged into the Mediterranean Sea daily, causing extensive contamination of beaches four times higher than the international environmental standards and also impacting the fishing economy.

UN Report on fiscal crisis in Palestinian economyUN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process 23 Sept. 2019-A newly published United Nations report highlighted the urgency to resolve the continuing fiscal crisis faced by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and to support the Palestinian economy. It called for increased attention to Gazas health system. According to the report, an evolving health crisis in Gaza is caused, in part, by limited electricity supply to healthcare centers and hospitals, dual-use restrictions on medical equipment and a shortage of medicines and disposables. The report called for the Palestinian Ministry of Healths full cooperation with this effort. To move away from humanitarian assistance, fundamental improvements to health care infrastructure, including increased electricity supply, access to clean water, upgrading of medical equipment and establishing a transparent and effective supply chain for medicines and other essential goods are key, the report added. Read more: MENAFN, Emirates News Agency

Update on Palestinian prisoner hunger strikeElectronic Intifada 25 Sept. 2019-Some 140 Palestinian prisoners have been rejecting food for more than two weeks after Israel failed to cease jamming their phone reception, and to install public telephones, preventing them from communicating with the outside world, which Israel had agreed to do following a previous hunger strike. Some 460 are being held in administrative detention, under which Israel can imprison individuals without charge or trial and detainees are not allowed to see the evidence against them.

Ten-minute video by BBC gives a thorough overview of Palestinian childhood detention by the Israeli militaryBBC 28 Aug. 2019-Many interviews with experts and several children themselves. This is a concise and excellent resourcepass it on to your MOC to urge them to sign onto HR 2407Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act.

Israels highest court ruled in September that Israel can legally hold the bodies of slain terrorists for leverage in negotiations with the PalestiniansElectronic Intifada 19 Sept. 2019-The remains of more than a dozen recently killed Palestinians are being held for such purposes.

Palestinian prisoner Bassam al-Sayih, 46, died at the Yitzhak Shamir Medical Center in Tel AvivPCHR 9 Sept. 2019-He was suffering from bone cancer when he was arrested and imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces on 8 October 2015 on suspicion of involvement with the killing of two Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. Over the subsequent four years, he was not granted a trial, never sentenced, and his medical condition neglected, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. His death was due to torture, medical negligence and stalling in giving him the medical care he needed, prisoners rights groupAddameerHis is the third death within Israeli prisons in 2019.

Harvard president expresses concerns about obstacles facing foreign scholars, interview on All Things ConsideredNPR 3 Sept. 2019-Ismail Ajjawi, a Palestinian who was due at Harvard this fall as an incoming freshman, was denied entry to the U.S., had his visa canceled, and was sent home to Lebanon. He was allowed to come back in time for the start of classes at Harvard following meetings between Harvards president, Larry Bacow, Congress members, and the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security. Mr. Bacow sat down with NPR to discuss his concerns about immigration and visa obstacles faced by other international students and faculty.

The contested whiteness of Arab identity in the US: implications for health disparities researchSarah Abboud, Perla Chebli, Em Rabelais,Am J Public Health,published online ahead of print, September 19, 2019: e1e4. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2019.305285American Journal of Public Health Oct. 2 2019-In this commentary, the authors make the case that individuals of Arab descent in the United States are classified as White in the U.S. (but do not benefit from white privilege), and are not recognized as a minority group. This is a form of structural violence that leaves them invisible, their needs unaddressed, and their health status impacted. Health disparities due to social exclusion, stigma, and discrimination are experienced by this group. The authors call on the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) at the National Institutes of Health to acknowledge the undocumented health inequities that Arabs experience in the U.S. and to ensure their inclusion in the NIMHDs new multi-domain health disparities research framework.

Protests ahead of London arms fair to Stop Arming IsraelThe Peoples Dispatch 4 Sept. 2019-In early September, hundreds of people protested outside the venue which hosted the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair in London. The protesters, from the War on Want, demanded an end to the sale of weapons to Israel, due to its occupation of Palestine and other grave crimes.The DSEI fair is supported by the UK government. The executive director ofWar on Want said that the British government is rolling out the red carpet for human rights violating regimes to buy the weapons of death.

According to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) the British government approved the sale of weapons and military equipment worth USD 17.8 million to Israel in 2018. In May 2018, just four days after Israeli forces massacred 68 Palestinians during the Great March of Return protests in Gaza, a deal for the sale of military training equipment to Israel worth USD 125,000 was approved.

Focus On: International Aid to Palestine, with pieces by Samer Abdelnour, Sam Bahour, Nora Lester Murad, Alaa Tartir, Jeremy WildemanAl-Shabaka 4 Sept. 2019-The analysts argue that development cannot be understood as a mere technocratic, apolitical, and neutral process. Rather, it must be recognized as operating within relations of colonial dominance and rearticulated as linked to the struggle for rights, resistance, and emancipation.

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More than 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza have bone infections after being shot by Israeli forces - Mondoweiss

The Chronicle

THE Ministry of Finance and Economic Development has outlined the latest milestones Government has achieved in implementing reforms aimed at attaining an upper middle income economy by 2030. The first stage of the economic reform agenda the Transitional Stabilisation Programme has managed to stabilise the macro-economic environment in preparation for the second stage of the process the First National Development Plan which will cover the period 2021-2025.

The TSP is laying a foundation for sustainable and shared private sector-led growth while creating the necessary environment for investment. This entails strengthening governance and normalising international relations. Outlining progress on TSP reforms, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube, said they were on course with notable milestones on fiscal consolidation, monetary policy restoration, liberalisation of the foreign exchange market, structural and governance reforms, re-engagement, investment promotion and support for the productive sectors.

On Governance reforms, Prof Ncube said Government recognises the importance of transforming all governance systems including rule of law, freedoms of expression and association, respect for human and property rights, and zero tolerance to corruption. In that regard, notable progress had been made in aligning laws to the constitution. Of the 206 Acts which required alignment, 159 laws have been aligned while about 65 laws need to be aligned during the period 2019-20.

Government has also successfully established and operationalised all Independent Constitutional Commissions mandated to promote good governance and these include the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Gender Commission, Media Commission, Peace and Reconciliation Commission, Judiciary Service Commission, Electoral Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission, Land Commission and the National Prosecuting Authority.

Treasury allocated funds to capacitate the commissions whose establishment has seen progress in fighting corruption with many cases now being dealt with by ZACC, robust systems for planning and executing elections as demonstrated during the 2018 Harmonised General Elections and reconciliation and bringing together of different political parties to discuss national issues, through the Political Actors Dialogue.

Government has also approved the principles of the proposed Maintenance of Peace and Order Bill which is repealing the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and by 3 September 2019, the Bill had gone through both houses of Parliament and is now awaiting Presidential assent. In the same vein it is repealing the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act which will be replaced by the Zimbabwe Media Commission Act, the Freedom of Information Act and the Protection of Personal Information/Data Act.

Cabinet approved the Freedom of Information Bill and the Broadcasting Services Amendment Bill on 15 May 2019. They were subsequently gazetted on 17 June 2019. The two bills seek to provide the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the media. The Zimbabwe Media Commission Bill was also gazetted on 9 August 2019 and will go through Parliamentary processes during the Second sitting of Parliament which started 1 October 2019. Government is reforming the police force in order to restore its appropriate mandate and enhance its effectiveness in ensuring the rule of law in the country.

On fiscal consolidation, Treasury has successfully reined in expenditure, aggressively pursued revenue collection and done away with quasi-fiscal activities. Cost containment measures embarked on include an end to recourse to Central Bank financing including the overdraft, issuance of Treasury Bills only for budgeted expenditures, maintaining public wage bill at below 50% of total expenditures with adjustments linked to cost of living (COLA) parameters, rationalisation of posts and freeze on hiring, save for critical sectors/posts, enforcing Retirement Policy by retiring staff who have reached the retirement age of 65 years, those without the required qualifications and voluntary retirement; removal of duplications of posts in various ministries; and removal of a number of benefits, including personal issue vehicles and fuel allocations. In support of these measures, Government has implemented a flexible monetary policy aimed at stimulating productivity in the economy.

It has done away with the multi-currency system and adopted a mono-currency. This was meant to restore domestic competitiveness and promote growth, remove price distortions in the foreign exchange market and improve export competitiveness through sale of export proceeds at market determined rates.

Government has also established a Monetary Policy Committee and appointed a New RBZ Board. All these measures have resulted in a return of normalcy to the exchange market, with the exchange rate volatilities being reined in at an average exchange rate of 1USD:15 Z$. Government has also signed off on a Staff Monitored Programme (SMP) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to assist Zimbabwe implement key reforms as outlined in the TSP. This will allow the country to build a track record of sound economic policies as it seeks to re-engagement with the international community.

The successful implementation of the SMP, in conjunction with key reforms in the TSP, will enhance development partners and creditors support while strong support from creditors will be crucial for the rapid implementation of a comprehensive arrears clearance and debt relief programme. Other key milestones include the rehabilitation of infrastructure such as dams, power stations like Hwange and Kariba, roads, schools, rail,airports and hospitals. Going forward, Government says it will take advantage of positive strides made on stabilisation to consolidate and gradually exitfrom austerity measures by switching to reforms that emphasise on growth, productivity and prosperity objectives.

Lets be patient and give them time.

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EDITORIAL COMMENT: Economy will rebound, lets be patient - Chronicle

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Singapores economic freedom score is 89.4, making its economy the 2nd freest in the 2019 Index. Its overall score has increased by 0.6 point, with increases in scores for trade freedom and government integrity outpacing modest declines in labor freedom and property rights. Singapore is ranked 2nd among 43 countries in the AsiaPacific region, and its overall score is well above the regional and world averages.

Singapore owes its success as a highly developed free-market economy in large part to its remarkably open and corruption-free business environment, prudent monetary and fiscal policies, and a transparent legal framework. The government has continued to promote economic growth through an active industrial policy that targets fiscal incentives, increases public investment, promotes development of skill sets attractive to foreign investors, and focuses on economic diversification. Well-secured property rights promote entrepreneurship and productivity growth. The rule of law is undergirded by a societal intolerance of corruption.

Singapore is one of the worlds most prosperous nations. Despite an active parliamentary opposition, it has been ruled by one party, the Peoples Action Party (PAP), for many decades. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has led the government since 2004 and will oversee a PAP leadership transition before the next parliamentary election, due by 2021. Although certain civil liberties remain restricted, the PAP long ago embraced economic liberalization and international trade. Services dominate the economy, but Singapore is also a major manufacturer of electronics and chemicals and operates one of the worlds largest ports. Its unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the developed world. Principal exports include integrated circuits, refined petroleum, and computers.

Singapore protects property rights and enforces contracts effectively. Commercial courts function well, but the governments overwhelmingly successful track record in court cases raises questions about judicial independence. Singapore is one of the worlds least corrupt countries and has numerous safeguards and audit controls in place. When corruption is discovered, it is dealt with swiftly, firmly, and publicly.

The top individual income tax rate is 22 percent, and the top corporate tax rate is 17 percent. The overall tax burden equals 13.7 percent of total domestic income. Over the past three years, government spending has amounted to 17.6 percent of the countrys output (GDP), and budget surpluses have averaged 4.3 percent of GDP. Public debt is equivalent to 110.9 percent of GDP.

The overall entrepreneurial environment remains one of the worlds most transparent and efficient. The business start-up process is straightforward, with no minimum capital required. The labor market, supported by flexible labor regulations, is vibrant and functions well. The government funds generous housing, transport, and health care subsidy programs and influences other prices through regulation and state-linked enterprises.

The combined value of exports and imports is equal to 322.4 percent of GDP. The average applied tariff rate is 0.1 percent. As of June 30, 2018, according to the WTO, Singapore had 182 nontariff measures in force. The countrys openness to global investment encourages vibrant commercial activity. The government continues its ownership in the financial sector but has steadily been opening the domestic market to foreign banks.

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Singapore Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation, Business ...

Depends a bit on the context and if you're using that as a formal business phrase or not. I'll assume that you are. In that case, "fiscal freedom" is the degree of freedom an American has from the tax burden placed on that individual by the government. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank organization, has come up with a formula to determine the Fiscal Freedom Index, in which the top tax rate percentage for...

Depends a bit on the context and if you're using that as a formal business phrase or not. I'll assume that you are. In that case, "fiscal freedom" is the degree of freedom an American has from the tax burden placed on that individual by the government. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank organization, has come up with a formula to determine the Fiscal Freedom Index, in which the top tax rate percentage for individuals, the top tax rate for corporations and tax revenue overall as a percentage of national GDP are crunched into a formula.

I've provided a link to the Foundation's site which explains it more in depth.

Read more:

What is meant by "fiscal freedom"? | eNotes

A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is the period used by governments for accounting and budget purposes, which varies between countries. It is also used for financial reporting by business and other organizations. Laws in many jurisdictions require company financial reports to be prepared and published on an annual basis, but generally do not require the reporting period to align with the calendar year (1 January to 31 December). Taxation laws generally require accounting records to be maintained and taxes calculated on an annual basis, which usually corresponds to the fiscal year used for government purposes. The calculation of tax on an annual basis is especially relevant for direct taxation, such as income tax. Many annual government feessuch as Council rates, licence fees, etc.are also levied on a fiscal year basis, while others are charged on an anniversary basis.

The "fiscal year end" (FYE) is the date that marks the end of the fiscal year. Some companiessuch as Cisco Systems[1]end their fiscal year on the same day of the week each year, e.g. the day that is closest to a particular date (for example, the Friday closest to 31 December). Under such a system, some fiscal years will have 52 weeks and others 53 weeks.

The calendar year is used as the fiscal year by about 65% of publicly traded companies in the United States and for a majority of large corporations in the UK[2] and elsewhere, with notable exceptions being in Australia, New Zealand and Japan.[3]

Many universities have a fiscal year which ends during the summer to align the fiscal year with the academic year (and, in some cases involving public universities, with the state government's fiscal year), and because the university is normally less busy during the summer months. In the northern hemisphere this is July to the next June. In the southern hemisphere this is calendar year, January to December. Some media/communication-based organizations use a broadcast calendar as the basis for their fiscal year.

The fiscal year is usually denoted by the calendar year in which it ends, so United States federal government spending incurred on 14 November 2019 would belong to fiscal year 2020, operating on a fiscal calendar of OctoberSeptember.[4]

The fiscal year for individuals and entities to report and pay income taxes is often known as the taxpayer's tax year or taxable year. Taxpayers in many jurisdictions may choose their tax year.[5] Some federal countries, such as Canada and Switzerland, require the provincial or cantonal tax year to align with the federal year. In the United States, most states retained a 30 June fiscal year-end date when the federal government switched to 30 September in 1976. Nearly all jurisdictions require that the tax year be 12 months or 52/53 weeks.[6] However, short years are permitted as the first year or when changing tax years.[7]

Most countries require all individuals to pay income tax based on the calendar year. Significant exceptions include:

Many jurisdictions require that the tax year conform to the taxpayer's fiscal year for financial reporting. The United States is a notable exception: taxpayers may choose any tax year, but must keep books and records for such year.[6]

In some jurisdictions, particularly those that permit tax consolidation, companies that are part of a group of businesses must use nearly the same fiscal year (differences of up to three months are permitted in some jurisdictions, such as the U.S. and Japan), with consolidating entries to adjust for transactions between units with different fiscal years, so the same resources will not be counted more than once or not at all.[citation needed]

In Afghanistan, the fiscal year was recently[timeframe?] changed from 1 Hamal 29 Hoot (21 March 20 March) to 1 Jadi 30 Qaus (21 December 20 December). The fiscal year runs with the Afghan or Solar Hijri calendar, because of the differing cycle of leap years in the Gregorian and Afghan calendars, there can be slight differences in the start date of fiscal (and calendar) years. As shown in the chart below, leap years will coincide in 2020 and 2024 but will desynchronize with the Gregorian calendar having a leap year in 2028 as opposed to the Afghan calendar's leap year of 2029.

Correspondence of Solar Hijri and Gregorian calendars (Solar Hijri leap years are marked *)[10]

In Australia, a fiscal year is commonly called a "financial year" (FY) and starts on 1 July and ends on the next 30 June. Financial years are designated by the calendar year of the second half of the period. For example, financial year 2017 is the 12-month period ending on 30 June 2017 and can be referred to as FY2016/17. It is used for official purposes, by individual taxpayers and by the overwhelming majority of business enterprises.[8] Business enterprises may opt to use a financial year that ends at the end of a week (e.g., 52 or 53 weeks in length, and therefore is not exactly one calendar year in length), or opt for its financial year to end on a date that matches the reporting cycle of its foreign parent. All entities within the one group must use the same financial year.

For government accounting and budget purposes, pre-Federation colonies changed the financial year from the calendar year to a year ending 30 June on the following dates: Victoria changed in 1870, South Australia in 1874, Queensland in 1875, Western Australia in 1892, New South Wales in 1895 and Tasmania in 1904. The Commonwealth adopted the near-ubiquitous financial year standard since its inception in 1901.[12] The reason given for the change was for convenience, as Parliament typically sits during May and June, while it was difficult for it to meet in November and December to pass a budget.[12]

The Financial year is split into the following four quarters [13]

In Austria the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.

In Bangladesh, the fiscal year is 1 July to the next 30 June.[14]

In Belarus, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.[15]

In Brazil, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.

In Bulgaria, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December, both for personal income tax[16] and for corporate taxes.[17]

In Canada,[18] the government's financial year is 1 April to 31 March. (Q1 1 April - 30 June, Q2 1 July - 30 Sept, Q3 1 Oct - 31 Dec and Q4 1 Jan - 31 Mar)

For individual taxpayers, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.

In China, the fiscal year for all entities is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December, and applies to the tax year, statutory year, and planning year.[citation needed]

In Colombia, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.

In Costa Rica, the fiscal year is 1 October to 30 September.

In the Arab Republic of Egypt, the fiscal year is 1 July to 30 June.[19]

In France, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December, and has been since at least 1911.[20]

In Greece, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.

In Hong Kong,[21] the government's financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March.

In India, the government's financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March. It is abbreviated as a FY19.[22][23]

Companies following the Indian Depositary Receipt (IDR) are given freedom to choose their financial year. For example, Standard Chartered's IDR follows the UK calendar despite being listed in India. Companies following Indian fiscal year get to know their economical health on 31 March of every Indian financial or fiscal year.

The current fiscal year was adopted by the colonial British government in 1867 to align India's financial year with that of the British Empire.[24][25] Prior to 1867, India followed a fiscal year that ran from 1 May to 30 April.[26]

In 1984, the LK Jha committee recommended adopting a fiscal year that ran from 1 January to 31 December. However, this proposal was not adopted by the government fearing possible issues during the transition period.[26] A panel set up by the NITI Aayog in July 2016, recommended starting the next fiscal year from 1 January to 31 December after the end of the current five-year plan.[27]

On 4 May 2017, Madhya Pradesh announced that it would move to a JanuaryDecember financial year, becoming the first Indian state to do so. But later it dropped the idea.[28]

The financial year also termed as FY in India is accounted from the April 1st to the 31st March every year and inlcudes all the monetary and budgerty decisions taken by the central government. Financial year was undertaken from the 1867 british era and still continues to be same. Currently, Mr. Arun Jaitley chairs the union finance minister position in India.

In Indonesia, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.[29]

In Iran, the fiscal year usually starts on 21 March (1st of Farvardin) and concludes on next year's 20 March (29th of Esfand) in Solar Hijri calendar [30]

Until 2001, the fiscal year in Ireland was the year ending 5 April, as in the United Kingdom. From 2002, to coincide with the introduction of the euro, it was changed to the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December. The 2001 tax year was nine months, from April to December.[31]

In Israel, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.[32]

In Italy, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December. It was changed in 1965, before which it was 1 July to 30 June.[citation needed]

In Japan,[33] the government's financial year is from 1 April to 31 March. The fiscal year is represented by the calendar year in which the period begins, followed by the word nendo (); for example the fiscal year from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019 is called 2018nendo.

Japan's income tax year is 1 January to 31 December, but corporate tax is charged according to the corporation's own annual period.[citation needed]

In Macau, the government's financial year is 1 January to 31 December.

In Mexico, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.

In Myanmar,[34] the fiscal year is 1 October to 30 September.

In Nepal, the fiscal year is 1 Shrawan (4th month of Bikram calendar) to 31 Ashad (3rd month of Bikram calendar). Shrawan 1 roughly falls in mid-July.[35]

In New Zealand, the government's fiscal[36] and financial reporting[37] year is 1 July to the next 30 June[38] and applies also to the budget. The company and personal financial year[39] is 1 April to 31 March and applies to company and personal income tax.

The Pakistani government's fiscal year is 1 July of the previous calendar year and concludes on 30 June. Private companies are free to observe their own accounting year, which may not be the same as government's fiscal year.[40]

In Portugal, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.

In Qatar, the fiscal year is from 1 January to 31 December.

In Romania, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.[41]

In Russia, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.[20]

The fiscal year for the calculation of personal income taxes is 1 January to 31 December.[citation needed]

The fiscal year for the Government of Singapore and many government-linked corporations is 1 April to 31 March.[citation needed]

Corporations and organisations are permitted to select any date as the end of each fiscal year, as long as this date remains constant.[citation needed]

In South Africa, the fiscal year for the Government of South Africa is 1 April to 31 March.[citation needed]

The year of assessment for individuals covers twelve months, 1 March to the final day of February the following year. The Act also provides for certain classes of taxpayers to have a year of assessment ending on a day other than the last day of February. Companies are permitted to have a tax year ending on a date that coincides with their financial year. Many older companies still use a tax year that runs from 1 July to 30 June, inherited from the British system. A common practice for newer companies is to run their tax year from 1 March to the final day of February following, to synchronize with the tax year for individuals.[citation needed]

In South Korea, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.[42]

In Spain, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.[43]

In Sweden, the fiscal year for individuals is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.[44]

The fiscal year for an organisation is typically one of the following:

However, all calendar months are allowed. If an organisation wishes to change into a non-calendar year, permission from the Tax Authority is required.[45][46]

In Switzerland, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.[47]

In Taiwan, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December. However, an enterprise may elect to adopt a special fiscal year at the time it is established and can request approval from the tax authorities to change its fiscal year.[48]

In Thailand, the government's fiscal year (FY) is 1 October to 30 September of the following year.[49] For individual taxpayers it is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.

In Ukraine, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.[50]

In the United Arab Emirates, the fiscal year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.[citation needed]

In the United Kingdom,[51] the financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March for the purposes of government financial statements.[52] For personal tax purposes the fiscal year starts on 6 April and ends on 5 April of the next calendar year.[53]

Although United Kingdom corporation tax is charged by reference to the government's financial year, companies can adopt any year as their accounting year: if there is a change in tax rate, the taxable profit is apportioned to financial years on a time basis.[citation needed]

A number of major corporations that were once government-owned, such as BT Group and the National Grid, continue to use the government's financial year, which ends on the last day of March, as they have found no reason to change since privatisation.[citation needed]

The 5 April year end for personal tax and benefits reflects the old ecclesiastical calendar, with New Year falling on 25 March (Lady Day), the difference being accounted for by the eleven days "missed out" when Great Britain converted from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar in September 1752 (the British tax authorities, and landlords were unwilling to lose 11 days of tax and rent revenue, so under provision 6 (Times of Payment of Rents, Annuities, &c.) of the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750, the 175253 tax year was extended by 11 days). From 1753 until 1799, the tax year in Great Britain began on 5 April, which was the "old style" new year of 25 March. A 12th skipped Julian leap day in 1800 changed its start to 6 April. It was not changed when a 13th Julian leap day was skipped in 1900, so the start of the personal tax year in the United Kingdom is still 6 April.[54][55][56]

The United States federal government's fiscal year is the 12-month period beginning 1 October and ending 30 September the following year. The identification of a fiscal year is the calendar year in which it ends; thus, the current fiscal year is 2019, often written as "FY2019" or "FY19", which began on 1 October 2018 and will end on 30 September 2019.

Prior to 1976, the fiscal year began on 1 July and ended on 30 June. The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 made the change to allow Congress more time to arrive at a budget each year, and provided for what is known as the "transitional quarter" from 1 July 1976 to 30 September 1976. An earlier shift in the federal government's fiscal year was made in 1843, shifting the fiscal year from a calendar year to one starting on 1 July.[57]

For example, the United States government fiscal year for 2019 is:

State governments set their own fiscal year. Forty-six of the fifty states set their fiscal year to end on 30 June.[58] Four states have fiscal years that end on a different date:

The fiscal year for the Washington, D.C. government ends on 30 September.[59]

Among the inhabited territories of the United States, most align with the federal fiscal year, ending on 30 September. These include American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.[58] Puerto Rico is the exception, with its fiscal year ending on 30 June.

The tax year for a business is governed by the fiscal year it chooses. A business may choose any consistent fiscal year that it wants; however, for seasonal businesses such as farming and retail, a good account practice is to end the fiscal year shortly after the highest revenue time of year. Consequently, most large agriculture companies end their fiscal years after the harvest season, and most retailers end their fiscal years shortly after the Christmas shopping season.

The rest is here:

Fiscal year - Wikipedia

Download PDF Quick Facts

The United Kingdoms economic freedom score is 78.9, making its economy the 7th freest in the 2019 Index. Its overall score has increased by 0.9 point, with a big jump in fiscal health and higher scores for government integrity and government spending outweighing sharp drops in judicial effectiveness and monetary freedom. The U.K. is ranked 3rd among 44 countries in the Europe region, and its overall score is above the regional and world averages.

The U.K.s 2019 departure from the European Union has prompted policymakers to address structural deficiencies such as lackluster productivity growth. The resilient economys recovery from the financial crisis was aided by effective rule of law, an open trade regime, and a well-developed financial sector. The already liberal labor market can be made more flexible after Brexit. The U.K. has one of the worlds most efficient business and investment environments and will soon be open to expanded global trade relationships.

Steady growth has made Britains economy, which has thrived ever since former Prime Minister Margaret Thatchers market reforms in the 1980s, the worlds fifth largest. In 2016, the U.K. voted in a popular referendum to leave the European Union. Current Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister Theresa May has been negotiating the terms of the March 2019 Brexit. The Tories, who ousted the Labour Party in 2010, lost their parliamentary majority in 2017 but retained power with the support of Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party. A series of high-profile, Brexit-related resignations in 2018 further weakened the May government. Services, particularly banking, insurance, and business services, are key drivers of GDP growth. Large oil and natural gas reserves are declining.

Private property rights and contracts are very secure, although fees related to the enforcement of contracts were increased in 2018. The court system is efficient and independent. The rule of law is well established, and the World Economic Forums 20172018 Global Competitiveness Report ranked the U.K. 8th out of 137 countries. Isolated instances of bribery and corruption occur but are prosecuted vigorously.

The top personal income tax rate is 45 percent. The top corporate tax rate is 20 percent. Other taxes include value-added and environment taxes. The overall tax burden equals 33.2 percent of total domestic income. Over the past three years, government spending has amounted to 41.6 percent of the countrys output (GDP), and budget deficits have averaged 3.2 percent of GDP. Public debt is equivalent to 87.0 percent of GDP.

The regulatory environment is efficient and transparent. Starting a business takes less than a week. Bankruptcy proceedings are straightforward, and the labor market is relatively efficient. The government maintains a few price controls, such as regulated rates for most utilities and partial controls of prescription drug prices, and is likely to reform current agricultural subsidies after Brexit.

The combined value of exports and imports is equal to 62.5 percent of GDP. The average applied tariff rate is 2.0 percent. Some EU-directed nontariff trade barriers including technical and product-specific regulations, subsidies, and quotas may be adjusted or removed after Brexit. A well-developed financial sector continues to complement one of the worlds most efficient investment environments.

Continued here:

United Kingdom Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation ...

Ranking: Fiscal Freedom Analysis

California is one of the least free states in the country, largely because of its long-standing poor performance on economic freedom. Given this, it is likely no surprise that the Golden State is the most cronyist state in the union. It has long suffered from a wide disparity between its economic freedom and personal freedom ranking, but it is not as if the state is a top performer in the latter dimension. Indeed, it is quite mediocre on personal freedom.

Despite Proposition 13, California is one of the highest-taxed states in the country. Californias combined state and local tax collections were 10.8 percent of adjusted personal income. Moreover, because of the infamous Serrano decision on school funding, California is a fiscally centralized state. Local taxes are about average nationally, while state taxes are well above average. Government debt is high, at 20.9 percent of personal income. The states government employment is lower than the national average, at 11.2 percent of private employment.

Regulatory policy is even more of a problem for the state than fiscal policy. California is one of the worst states on land-use freedom. Some cities have rent control, new housing supply is tightly restricted in the coastal areas despite high demand, and eminent domain reform has been nugatory. The state even mandates speech protections in privately owned shopping malls. Labor law is anti-employment, with no right-to-work law, high minimum wages, strict workers compensation mandates, mandated short-term disability insurance, stricter-than-federal anti-discrimination law, and prohibitions on consensual noncompete agreements. Occupational licensing is extensive and strict, especially in construction trades. The state is tied for worst in nursing practice freedom. The states mandatory cancer labeling law (Proposition 65) has significant economic costs. California is one of the worst states for consumers freedom of choice in homeowners and automobile insurance. On the plus side, there is no certificate-of-need law for new hospitals, there have been some moves to deregulate cable and telecommunications, and the civil liability regime has improved gradually over the past 14 years.

California is a classic left-wing state on social issues. Gun rights are among the weakest in the country and have been weakened consistently over time. It was one of the first states to adopt a smoking ban on private property, but other states have since leap-frogged California in their restrictiveness, and tobacco taxes are actually a bit lower than average. California was an early leader on cannabis liberalization, fell behind in recent years, and has again become the top state for marijuana freedom with the 2016 passage of Proposition 64 legalizing the cultivation, sale, and possession of marijuana. Alcohol is not as strictly regulated as in most other states and booze taxes are relatively low. Physician-assisted suicide was legalized in 2015. Private school choice programs are nonexistent, and the state risks falling behind its neighbors Nevada and Arizona as an education entrepreneur. There is some public school choice, and homeschooling is moderately regulated. Incarceration and drug arrest rates used to be higher than average but have fallen over time, especially since 2010. The state is a leader in marriage freedom, adopting same-sex partnerships and then civil unions fairly early (although it gained same-sex marriage only recently).

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Ranking: Fiscal Freedom Analysis

Indiana has quietly built a record as one of Americas freest states and the freest state by a wide margin in the Great Lakes region. Hoosiers enjoy top scores on all three dimensions of freedom, with regulatory policy a particular area of excellence. Although it has still experienced small net outmigration to the rest of the country over the past 17 years, its record in that department has been better than that of any other of the eight Great Lakes states, and its economic growth has been better than all its neighbors for at least a decade.

Although Indianas fiscal policy deteriorated quite a bit between FY 2000 and FY 2009, it has made a good recovery since then. Local taxes have fallen from 4.7 percent of income in FY 2010 to 3.1 percent in FY 2015, and state taxes have edged down as well. Government debt has also fallen over that period. State and local government employment is substantially smaller than the national average, as is government consumption.

Although the PPACA disproportionately harmed the state because of its previously fairly free-market health insurance policies, Indiana has maintained the elements of a solid regulatory policy as far as it can. Land-use freedom is high by any measure, although it could be more consistently principled if it didnt stop employers from banning guns in their parking lots. The state passed right-to-work legislation in 2012 and has resisted increasing the minimum wage above the federal mark. It is a model state for telecommunications deregulation. Occupational freedom is extensive, though not for second-line health care professions. The state did legalize greater prescribing authority by physician assistants in 2013. There is no hospital certificate-of-need requirement, although there is such a requirement for moving companies. Insurance freedom is above average, and the state has recently allowed direct Tesla sales. The civil liability system shows steady improvement over the past decade.

Indiana has more personal freedom than most other conservative states. It was forced to legalize same-sex marriage in 2014 but never had an oppressive super-DOMA. Gun rights are fairly secure, especially for concealed carry, but the state has stricter-than-federal minimum age limits for possession and dealer licensing. The ban on short-barreled shotguns was eliminated in 2015. Victimless crime arrests are fairly low, but the incarceration rate is a bit higher than average, adjusted for crime rates. Educational freedom is excellent, and the state posted major gains in 2011 with a new statewide voucher law and a limited scholarship tax credit law. State civil asset forfeiture law is fairly good, although it is often circumvented through equitable sharing. Legal gambling is extensive. Smoking bans have not gone quite as far as in other states. Marijuana freedom is virtually nonexistent, but alcohol freedom has been improving consistently in the past few years. The state now has direct-to-consumer wine shipments and it reformed off-premises Sunday sales in 2018, and alcohol taxes are low.

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William P. Ruger

William P. Ruger is Vice President of Policy and Research at the Charles Koch Institute and Charles Koch Foundation. Ruger is the author of the biography Milton Friedman and a coauthor of The State of Texas: Government, Politics, and Policy. His work has been published in International Studies Quarterly, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, Armed Forces and Society, and other outlets. Ruger earned an AB from the College of William and Mary and a PhD in politics from Brandeis University. He is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

Jason Sorens is Lecturer in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College. His primary research interests include fiscal federalism, public policy in federal systems, secessionism, and ethnic politics. His work has been published in International Studies Quarterly, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Peace Research, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, and other academic journals, and his book Secessionism: Identity, Interest, and Strategy was published by McGill-Queens University Press in 2012. Sorens received his BA in economics and philosophy, with honors, from Washington and Lee University and his PhD in political science from Yale University.

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Freedom in the 50 States 2015-2016 | Overall Freedom ...

William P. Ruger

William P. Ruger is Vice President of Policy and Research at the Charles Koch Institute and Charles Koch Foundation. Ruger is the author of the biography Milton Friedman and a coauthor of The State of Texas: Government, Politics, and Policy. His work has been published in International Studies Quarterly, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, Armed Forces and Society, and other outlets. Ruger earned an AB from the College of William and Mary and a PhD in politics from Brandeis University. He is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

Jason Sorens is Lecturer in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College. His primary research interests include fiscal federalism, public policy in federal systems, secessionism, and ethnic politics. His work has been published in International Studies Quarterly, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Peace Research, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, and other academic journals, and his book Secessionism: Identity, Interest, and Strategy was published by McGill-Queens University Press in 2012. Sorens received his BA in economics and philosophy, with honors, from Washington and Lee University and his PhD in political science from Yale University.

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Freedom in the 50 States 2015-2016 | Fiscal Freedom | Cato ...

Tax Burden is a measure of the tax burden imposed by government. It includes direct taxes, in terms of the top marginal tax rates on individual and corporate incomes, and overall taxes, including all forms of direct and indirect taxation at all levels of government, as a percentage of GDP. Thus, the fiscal freedom component is composed of three quantitative factors:

Fiscal freedom scores are calculated with a quadratic cost function to reflect the diminishing revenue returns from very high rates of taxation. The data for each factor are converted to a 100-point scale using the following equation:

Fiscal Freedomij= 100 (Factorij)2

where Fiscal Freedomij represents the fiscal freedom in country i for factor j; Factorij represents the value (based on a scale of 0 to 100) in country i for factor j; and is a coefficient set equal to 0.03. The minimum score for each factor is zero, which is not represented in the printed equation but was utilized because it means that no single high tax burden will make the other two factors irrelevant.

As an example, in the 2013 Index, Mauritius has a flat rate of 15 percent for both individual and corporate tax rates, which yields a score of 93.3 for each of the two factors. Mauritiuss overall tax burden as a portion of GDP is 18.5 percent, yielding a tax burden factor score of 89.7. When the three factors are averaged together, Mauritiuss overall fiscal freedom score becomes 92.1.

Sources. Unless otherwise noted, the Index relies on the following sources for information on taxation, in order of priority: Deloitte, International Tax and Business Guide Highlights; International Monetary Fund, Staff Country Report, Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix, and Staff Country Report, Article IV Consultation, 20092012; PricewaterhouseCoopers, Worldwide Tax Summaries, 20092012; countries investment agencies; other government authorities (embassy confirmations and/or the countrys treasury or tax authority); and Economist Intelligence Unit, Country Commerce and Country Finance, 20092012.

For information on tax burden as a percentage of GDP, the primary sources (in order of priority) were Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data; Eurostat, Government Finance Statistics data; African Development Bank and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, African Economic Outlook 2012; International Monetary Fund, Staff Country Report, Selected Issues, and Staff Country Report, Article IV Consultation, 20092012; Asian Development Bank, Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific, 20092012; and individual contacts from government agencies and multinational organizations such as the IMF and World Bank.

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