Recent Research: Budgets and Taxes

Research & Commentary: VAT Will Increase Both Debt and Taxes

John Nothdurft
July 15, 2010

A value-added tax (VAT) is a sales tax applied at each stage of production for a good or service, instead of only at the point of final sale.

Research & Commentary: A Different Way to Budget

John Nothdurft
July 15, 2010

States are beginning to turn away from baseline budgeting, a method that has proven ineffective in keeping the size of government to a responsible level.

Research & Commentary: Extending the Bush Tax Cuts

John Nothdurft
July 7, 2010

Without Congressional action the Bush tax cuts will sunset on January 1, 2011 and raise U.S. residents’ tax bills by a whopping $3.1 trillion over the next 10 years.

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:

Research & Commentary: New Hampshire’s Vanishing Tax Advantage

John Nothdurft
April 26, 2010

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch (D) has proposed his fifth cigarette tax increase in five years.

No. 126 The State Public Pension Crisis: A 50-State Report Card

Steve Stanek,
April 1, 2010

Taxpayers in almost every U.S. state owe large and possibly unpayable retirement pensions to the men and women who work for the government.

A Supply-Side Solution

John Hendrickson
March 1, 2010

 

Research & Commentary: Subsidizing Sports Stadiums

John Nothdurft
February 16, 2010

Since the 1990s, the building of new sports stadiums has increasingly relied on taxpayer funds, with subsidies growing from just a few million dollars in tax exemptions to unabashed corporate welfa

Research & Commentary: Universal Access and Service Funds Are Outdated, Costly

John Nothdurft
February 1, 2010

Federal and state universal access and service funds (UASFs) have become an ineffective and outdated use of taxpayer money.