While many face abysmal public services + tax hikes, huge companies & the uber-rich game a tax system designed 100 yrs ago. My new oped in @opiniojuris.bsky.social on why the first-ever UN tax treaty is a historic chance for public budgets that can fund human rights opiniojuris.org/2026/01/13/a...

A Fairer Tax System is a Global Human Rights Imperative

[Sarah Saadoun is a senior advisor on economic inequality at Human Rights Watch] Diplomats from dozens of countries gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, in November for a new round of negotiations on a Unit…

opiniojuris.org

Good to know the going rate for trying to counter my work!

Yossi Bartal@yossibartal.bsky.social · 7mo ago

This included more than 6,000 Euros for drafting a text for a "legal blog post", probably never published, against @hrw.org report on the Israeli occupation economy.

Low tax revenues helped drive Sri Lanka to economic crisis. New report by @hrw.org’s @sarahsaadoun.bsky.social on how tax policies favoring companies & the wealthy have for decades been undermining human rights, including to education www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...

Today, @hrw.org released the 1st major report on tax, documenting how policies that favor the rich drove Sri Lanka into economic crisis & starved its public education system. UN tax treaty negotiations are historic chance to address a root cause. www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...

Sri Lanka: Ruinous Tax Policies Stoke Inequality

Sri Lanka’s tax policies played a driving role in the country’s devastating 2022 economic crisis and have contributed to the chronic underfunding of education and other public services.

hrw.org

We assess economies based on GDP, but all it measures is total productivity, incentivizing growth while ignoring inequality, environmental degradation & human rights like health & education. Good news is there’s a process underway to develop new metrics: www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...

UN Meeting Seeks to Embed Human Rights in New Economic Indicators

A country’s gross domestic product (GDP), which measures total economic output, is central to how governments assess their economies. But this figure, when looked at in isolation, incentivizes economi...

hrw.org

Sri Lanka’s tax policies played a driving role in the country’s devastating 2022 economic crisis and have contributed to the chronic underfunding of education and other public services. New report @hrw.org / @sarahsaadoun.bsky.social, going out on Oct 15. Reporters can DM me for embargoed copy etc

Watching states negotiate the first-ever UN tax treaty was a window into geopolitical shifts - and a ray of hope for changing tax rules that deprive all governments of revenues for the benefit of the wealthiest: new from @hrw.org www.hrw.org/news/2025/08...

Progress on the Road to a UN Tax Treaty

Over the past two weeks, United Nations member countries started substantive negotiations for the first-ever UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation; a historic process that reflects ...

hrw.org

Had a great chat with @rosiebultman.bsky.social of KCSB and my @hrw.org colleague @sarahsaadoun.bsky.social about the Trump admin's terrible budget bill and how it will make ordinary people pay for tax cuts for the rich with their health Take a listen 👇 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

The Global Impact of Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill

Podcast Episode · The People’s Program · 07/24/2025 · 24m

podcasts.apple.com

Pleasure to join @rosiebultman.bsky.social on The People’s Program with my @hrw.org colleague @mattcconnell.bsky.social to talk about how Trump used the budget bill to kill a global rule meant to finally make companies pay a minimum tax rate on their profits. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

The Global Impact of Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill

Podcast Episode · The People’s Program · 07/24/2025 · 24m

podcasts.apple.com

Trump’s budget doesn’t just attack inequality at home, it’s a global giveaway to corporate giants, sabotaging efforts to make billionaires and multinationals pay their fair share. While the world fights for tax justice, this administration rigs the system even further www.hrw.org/news/2025/07...

How Trump Weaponized the US Budget Bill Overseas

The Trump administration has weaponized its bill to benefit the wealthiest US corporations by undermining global efforts to tax businesses fairly.

hrw.org

Trump's budget-busting bill... Sure, it adds trillions to the national debt, but it transfers funds away from the poor, who already have too much money, to the rich, who desperately need money. Can't see anything wrong there. www.hrw.org/news/2025/07...

US: Budget Would Benefit Wealthiest at Expense of Rights

The budget reconciliation bill passed by the United States Senate today would extend tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the country’s wealthiest families while reducing spending on health and ot...

hrw.org

Trump’s budget not only transfers public goods to private pockets in the US, he weaponised the process to let US companies keep ripping off the govts where they operate, hurting their ability to fund health, education & other rights www.hrw.org/news/2025/07...

How Trump Weaponized the US Budget Bill Overseas

The Trump administration has weaponized its bill to benefit the wealthiest US corporations by undermining global efforts to tax businesses fairly.

hrw.org

“It’s appalling that President Trump ran on a campaign to fix the economy but is delivering a budget that makes ordinary people pay with their health for tax breaks for millionaires” @mattcconnell.bsky.social @hrw.org on the catastrophe of a budget the senate just passed www.hrw.org/news/2025/07...

US: Budget Would Benefit Wealthiest at Expense of Rights

The budget reconciliation bill passed by the United States Senate today would extend tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the country’s wealthiest families while reducing spending on health and ot...

hrw.org

This is on top of the $79 trillion in upward redistribution since 1975, as per Carter C. Price's latest assessment in their Rand Corporation report www.rand.org/pubs/working... @randeurope.org #econsky #polisky #history

Measuring the Income Gap from 1975 to 2023

The author extends the results of prior work on the income gap between the bottom 90 percent of workers in 2023 and what they would have earned with an even growth rate from 1975 to 2023. These worker...

rand.org

Robert Reich@rbreich.bsky.social · last yr.

Never before in the history of this nation has such a large redistribution of income been directed upward, for no reason at all. It comes at a time of near-record inequalities of income and wealth. This budget bill is a nightmare.

US Senators are currently debating the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" to advance President Trump’s agenda.   This bill is not a solution to economic inequality or for managing immigration procedures – it is a blueprint for cruelty.   ✍️ Urge Congress to stop the bill NOW: www.hrw.org/NotOnOurWatch

From Kenyans protesting regressive taxes to US budgets fights over tax cuts for the rich, one thing is clear: tax policies are central to human rights. A new database from @hrw.org shows UN human rights bodies made 168 tax-related recommendations to 98 states. www.hrw.org/news/2025/06...

NEW: The Senate version of One Big Beautiful Bill is one big ugly transfer of wealth from low-income families to the rich. Americans struggling to get by will pay more for groceries & health care so the highest income families can get big tax cuts. This isn’t shared sacrifice.

The United Nations conference on financing for development should help pave the way for meaningful progress on improving international tax cooperation to benefit everyone’s human rights: www.hrw.org/news/2025/06...

UN Financing Development Meeting Should Advance Tax Justice

The United Nations conference on financing for development should help pave the way for meaningful progress on improving international tax cooperation to benefit everyone’s human rights.

hrw.org

The reconciliation bill puts health benefits for tipped workers at risk. ⬇️

Gideon Lukens@gidlukens.bsky.social · last yr.

The White House is touting tax benefits for tipped workers in the reconciliation bill, but 2 million tipped workers could be among those at risk of losing health coverage because of the #Medicaid and #ACA marketplace cuts in the bill. (1/3) www.nbcwashington.com/news/busines...

10,000 people are coming to Sevilla in a scorching heatwave to discuss financing for development. You know what would make the conference super cool? Advancing tax justice. 😎 New from @hrw.org on #FFD4Sevilla: www.hrw.org/news/2025/06...

UN Financing Development Meeting Should Advance Tax Justice

The United Nations conference on financing for development should help pave the way for meaningful progress on improving international tax cooperation to benefit everyone’s human rights.

hrw.org

Protestors in #Kenya commemorating one year anniversary since protests against a regressive tax bill once again met with horrific violence, killing at least 8 people. Here’s @hrw analysis of why the tax bill violates human rights: www.hrw.org/news/2024/07...

Kenya/IMF: Align Economic Reform with Rights

The Kenyan government and International Monetary Fund should work together to ensure that the IMF program and its implementation align with human rights.

hrw.org

Dispatch for @hrw.org on the draft bill on social security in the UK. The proposed benefit cuts will harm people with disabilities, worsen poverty, and undermine rights. The government says the bill “will protect the most vulnerable.” Its own data belie that claim. www.hrw.org/news/2025/06...

This is a big win in the fight for labor rights of gig workers. If you want to get a sense of why this is so important, read Lena's fantastic report on gig workers in Texas: www.hrw.org/report/2025/...

The Gig Trap

The 155-page report, “The Gig Trap: Algorithmic, Wage and Labor Exploitation in Platform Work in the US” focuses on seven major companies operating in the US: Amazon Flex, DoorDash, Favor, Instacart, ...

hrw.org

Lena Simet@lenasimet.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨 Big news from Geneva: the @ilo.org has agreed to develop binding global standards on decent work in the platform economy. This is a major breakthrough—but the real fight is just beginning.🧵 #ILC2025 #GigWorkersRights www.hrw.org/news/2025/06...

Exactly what the US needed: more inequality. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/12/u...

Rich Gain and Poor Lose in Republican Policy Bill, Budget Office Finds

nytimes.com

Gene Leon, president of a development bank, making the case for going beyond GDP, among other proposals for making the 4th Financing for Development conference a success www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/ffd4-c...

Gene Leon, president of a development bank, making the case for going beyond GDP, among other proposals for making the 4th Financing for Development conference a success www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/ffd4-c...

Gene Leon, president of a development bank, making the case for going beyond GDP, among other proposals for making the 4th Financing for Development conference a success www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/ffd4-c...

Cost estimate of the House-passed "Big Beautiful Bill" is out It'd be the largest cut to Medicaid+CHIP and SNAP in history while still increasing deficits by $2.4 trillion due to $3.8 trillion in tax cuts This'd be the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in a single law in history

How did we get here? Decades of economic myths. We treat the federal budget like a household’s—obsessed with deficits, ignoring that a monetarily sovereign government like the U.S. can’t “run out of money.” We cut public support, enrich the wealthy, and then ask why inequality explodes. #EconSky

Robert Reich@rbreich.bsky.social · last yr.

60% of American households can’t afford a minimal quality of life. Meanwhile, the 19 richest households saw their wealth increase by $1 trillion in 2024 — the biggest one-year increase ever. Our problem isn't a lack of resources. Our problem is ever-expanding inequality.

Your (ir)regular rundown of economic justice news from @hrw.org. Spotlight on a report revealing shocking conditions of gig workers in Texas. Also, stuff on climate because environmental & economic justice must be forged together. Some good news on labour rights. & more! Links below.