Business Management - Government/Governmental

The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) has signed an agreement with Apple Inc. to sell Federal eBooks. Titles are available in eBook format for the iPad, eReaders, PCs, and Macs when running the iTunes Store app.

Canadian magazine publishers want taxpayers to help them reinvent themselves, asking the federal government for money to develop digital products they hope will compensate for falling print subscriptions. The trade association that represents Canadian publishers has been quietly lobbying federal officials in an attempt to win funding to develop multimedia-rich digital editions that go beyond the capabilities of print.

Despite falling circulation at the country’s largest publications and anemic adoption rates for their online versions, Magazines Canada is convinced readers will move online if publishers can train employees how to enhance their products for Web-savvy readers.

The Postal Service’s 2012 Holiday Mobile Shopping Promotion will offer online merchants an upfront 2 percent postage discount on Standard Mail and First-Class Mail letters, flats and cards that include a mobile barcode or print/mobile technology—such as a QR code—that can be read or scanned by a mobile device and leads the mail recipient to a mobile-optimized shopping website.

New York Congressman Brian Higgins sent a letter to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors Chairman Thurgood Marshall, Jr. asking the board to take immediate action to replace Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe. “Under the Postmaster General’s leadership, the USPS displayed a complete lack of transparency and accountability throughout the process, which casts serious doubt that the current leadership is up to the task of leading the Postal Service through these challenging times.”

The Department of Justice announced it has reached a settlement with Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, but will continue to litigate against Apple and two other publishers—Holtzbrinck Publishers and Penguin Group—for conspiring to end eBook retailers’ freedom to compete on price, take control of pricing from eBook retailers and substantially increase the prices that consumers pay for eBooks.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus is trying to close the Son of Black Liquor tax loophole that has already provided U.S. paper makers with a windfall of more than $1 billion. The committee's staff estimates the move would save $2.786 billion over the next four years, which Baucus would use to help pay for highway construction and other infrastructure projects.

“This provision would prohibit taxpayers from claiming the alternative mixture credit or the cellulosic biofuels credit on any new or amended returns made on or after February 3, 2012.”

Congressman Brian Higgins recently held a press conference at Zenger Group, a printing and direct mail service provider, to oppose the scheduled closure of the Postal Service William Street facility in Buffalo, NY. That facility is the postal distribution gateway between the United States and Toronto/southern Ontario.

A favorable ruling from a Congressional committee will add millions more dollars to what U.S. pulp and paper companies gained from the infamous black liquor tax credits. KapStone Paper and Packaging announced yesterday that the Joint Committee on Taxation had accepted its position that the $186 million in black liquor credits it earned in 2009 are not taxable income. As a result, it is claiming $63.6 million in “gross unrecognized tax benefits and accrued interest expense.”

Pulp manufacturers exploited a loophole in a renewable-fuel tax credit program to gain at least $8 billion in direct payments from the federal government

“If passed today, either bill would provide at best one year of profitability, and at least a decade of steep losses,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe. “Unfortunately, both bills have elements that delay tough decisions and impose greater constraints on our business model.”

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has launched SavingThePostalService.com to educate the public about the Postal Service’s financial troubles and some possible solutions. U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has said that the U.S. Postal Service will default on its obligations to the federal government on September 30, at the end of the current fiscal year.