Heartland Policy Brief

Performance-Based Budgeting and Activities-Based Costing

Performance-based budgeting would require state government to develop quantifiable measures for all functions and then allocate tax dollars based on the effectiveness of meeting performance goals. Activities-based costing allocates tax dollars in a consistent and uniform manner. The Murphy Commission, a Policy Foundation project recommended both ideas in 1998.

No Income Tax Increase. Reduce Top Rate to Highest Border State Rate.

July 13, 2004

Once upon a time many economists did not accept the idea that tax rates are a factor of economic development. The literature suggests that is no longer the case. Tax rates are a factor of economic development along with private property, the right of contract and the rule of law; infrastructure; a functional education system and skilled labor force; and a non-capricious regulatory policy. Rates are not the only factor, but entrepreneurs do take them into consideration when making decisions about employment.

Phase Out Sales Tax On Groceries

February 13, 2007

Freshman Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe in 2007 proposed a 50 percent reduction in the state sales tax on groceries. The tax cut, enacted by the General Assembly reduced the grocery tax from six to three cents. Gov. Beebe has proposed reducing the grocery tax from three to two cents when the legislature meets in session in 2009.

The Prognosis for National Health Insurance: A Florida Perspective

Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics, and foward by Robert F. Sanchez
September 1, 2009

Health care now comprises about one-sixth of the U.S. economy. Given the aging of the population, that portion is likely to grow. Therefore, making major changes in the system that delivers and funds health care requires especially careful analysis, not a rush to judgment.

Reforming Medicaid in Florida

Dr. Michael Bond
March 25, 2010

Medicaid, the joint Federal-State program that was created to provide health care for the poor, celebrated its 40

Solutions to Restore Florida’s Property Insurance Marketplace to Protect Taxpayers and the Insured

Eli Lehrer
February 4, 2011

The 2011 session of the Florida Legislature will convene in the midst of state budget worries, a lingering real estate crisis, and a still-sluggish national economy. Therefore, lawmakers will face a challenging series of problems that a single legislative session will be hard-pressed to solve.

HB 1893: Opening Doors To Better Teachers And Better Education In Arkansas

Stuart Buck
March 22, 2011

 

Arkansas’s children deserve good teachers. Good teachers drive student achievement. But teachers in Arkansas are currently licensed under a set of bureaucratic requirements that have never been shown to improve educational quality or benefit students. These bureaucratic requirements can keep potentially good teachers away.

House Bill 1893 improves the teacher licensure process in Arkansas by opening the schoolhouse doors to more potentially good teachers. The bill will help education in Arkansas in three ways:

Obamacare for CT to Bust Budget

Marc Kilmer

In 2009, the Connecticut General Assembly overrode a veto by Governor Jodi Rell and passed an ambitious health care proposal called SustiNet. The dramatic final vote came after a years long campaign funded by tens of millions of dollars by the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut. The bill created a state commission to develop a plan to expand government health care and report back to the legislature in 2011.

How Much Does Each Diploma Cost?

June 14, 2010

HARTFORD – The average Connecticut high school graduate cost taxpayers about $133,000 from kindergarten through senior year, according to new research by the Yankee Institute. For high school graduates in the city of Hartford, which has the state’s most expensive graduates, that figure climbed to just under $200,000 per graduate, the data shows.

Using data from the Connecticut Department of Education, the Yankee Institute has ranked every Connecticut public high school by the lifetime cost of education per graduate. The five most expensive and least expensive diplomas are:

The Economics of Climate Change Proposals in Wisconsin

David G. Tuerck, Ph.D., Paul Bachman, MSIE, Sarah Glassman, MSEP, Michael Head, MSEP
November 1, 2009

Executive Summary

In April 2007, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle signed Executive Order 191 establishing the Governor’s Task Force on Global Warming (GTF).  The Task Force brings together members of the business, industry, government and environmental consulting communities to create a plan of action for the state of Wisconsin that addresses issues related to climate change.1

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