From Americans for Tax Fairness (https://americansfortaxfairness.org/):
When U.S. taxpayers pay for a medical advancement such as a vaccine or prescription drug, we should have access to that taxpayer-funded invention at an affordable price. But, on its way out the door, the former administration proposed a rule change that would prevent the federal government from taking legal action against pharmaceutical corporations that price gouge the American people.
And, if the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) implements this Trump-era rule change, it’ll put the Biden administration on the hook to implement this anti-consumer, pro-Big Pharma regulation.
We have until Monday at midnight ET to demand the NIST reject this Big Pharma giveaway.
Go to https://actionnetwork.org/letters/stop-big-pharma-from-price-gouging-the-american-people-on-taxpayer-funded-medicines to submit an official comment to the federal government, demanding that the NIST maintain critical consumer protections that prevent Big Pharma price gouging on taxpayer-funded medicines and medical advancements.
Pharmaceutical corporations consistently put their profits ahead of public health―resulting in the American people paying the highest price for prescription drugs in the world. The current policy, known as “march-in rights” places some limitations on pharmaceutical corporations’ ability to rip off the American people. But Big Pharma’s greed is never satisfied.
In the midst of a pandemic that has seen more than 550,000 deaths in the U.S. alone, we need to protect our rights, not Big Pharma’s profits.
We’re all tired of drug corporations making out like bandits at taxpayer expense. Johnson & Johnson will use a corporate tax break snuck into the first big pandemic relief package last year to reduce by over $1 billion the amount it will pay in legal settlement for its role in the opioid epidemic.[1]
In 2018 alone, the Trump-GOP tax cuts saved Pfizer $2.8 billion, Johnson & Johnson $2.5 billion and Merck $1.2 billion.[2] Eli Lilly paid a negative 9.1% tax rate that year, receiving a $54 million refund despite profits of almost $600 million.[3]
No more taxpayer subsidies for prescription drug corporations. At a time when millions of people are struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads, we must fight for critical consumer protections that put our health and financial needs ahead of corporate greed.
[1] “Drug companies seek billion-dollar tax deductions from opioid settlement,” The Washington Post, Feb. 12, 2019 [2] “Hazardous to Your Health: How the Trump tax cuts to Big Pharma widen inequality and undermine the health of women and girls,” Oxfam America, Apr. 9, 2019 [3] “Corporate Tax Avoidance in the First Year of the Trump Tax Law,” Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy, Dec. 2019
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