Research and Commentaries
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Higher Education in South Carolina: Cut Administrative Costs and Focus on Student Performance
Publication -Research and Commentaries -While South Carolinians can take pride in our state’s higher educational system, costs and tuition have skyrocketed in recent years, even as graduation rates remain below 40 percent. -
Research & Commentary: Bad Faith Insurance Legislation
Publication -Research and Commentaries -All insurers of homes or cars reject at least some claims. Most rejections are because the claimant is simply not covered for the claim. Some result from strong suspicions—or even evidence—of fraud. -
Research & Commentary: Bad Faith Insurance Legislation
Publication -Research and Commentaries -All insurers of homes or cars reject at least some claims. Most rejections are because the claimant is simply not covered for the claim. Some result from strong suspicions—or even evidence—of fraud. -
Research & Commentary: Capital Gains Taxes
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The current capital gains tax rate of 15 percent is set to increase substantially at the end of the year as the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts sunset. -
Research & Commentary: Privatization
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The concept of privatization is relatively simple: a shifting of a government-provided service or aspects of it to a private business subject to the rigors of a competitive marketplace. -
Research & Commentary: Severability and Obamacare
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Recent hearings in Virginia regarding the commonwealth’s case against the individual health insurance mandate in President Barack Obama’s health care reform raised important questions hinging on the issue of constitutional severability. -
Research & Commentary: The Upcoming Dividend Tax Increase
Publication -Research and Commentaries -One tax hike set to take effect January 1, 2011 unless Congressional action is taken is a 164 percent increase in the tax on dividends. This would raise the top tax rate from 15 percent to 39. -
Research & Commentary: Virtual Schools
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The movement toward e-learning is strong in many sectors of the U.S. economy. In higher education, for example, 3.9 million students were enrolled in online courses in 2007, an increase of 70 percent (1. -
The Real Cost of Network Neutrality
Publication -Research and Commentaries -On June 17, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski pushed through a 3-2 vote along party lines to begin his agency’s process of reclassifying broadband Internet access under a more restrictive regulatory regime known as Title II. -
Research & Commentary: Nutrition Information Overload
Publication -Research and Commentaries -One of the new requirements of President Barack Obama’s health care legislation concerns disclosure of nutrition information in restaurants — essentially a tactic designed to shame people into better eating habits. -
Research & Commentary: VAT Will Increase Both Debt and Taxes
Publication -Research and Commentaries -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
Publication -Research and Commentaries -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: Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) and Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-MA) sweeping Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate, is both ambitious and controversial. -
Research & Commentary: Extending the Bush Tax Cuts
Publication -Research and Commentaries -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. -
Research & Commentary: Constitutionality of School Voucher Programs
Publication -Research and Commentaries -In this year’s session the Illinois state legislature failed to pass a voucher bill benefiting low-income students in failing Chicago schools. Legislators expressed concern about the measure’s constitutionality. -
School Vouchers, Prosperity, and Job Creation
Publication -Research and Commentaries -States and localities are struggling with the need to slow the growth of spending for public K-12 education, while government employee unions and some legislators continue calling for ever-more money. -
Research & Commentary: Health Care Reform May Kill HSAs
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The question keeps coming up from concerned citizens: “Under President Barack Obama’s new health care regime, what’s going to happen to my health savings account (HSA)? -
Research & Commentary: Interchange Fee Update
Publication -Research and Commentaries -In an effort to force a reduction of what consumer advocates call "swipe fees" and depository institutions call "interchange fees," many in Congress are proposing heavy regulation of these fees, which are charged for processing transactions through debit -
Research & Commentary: Donald Berwick’s Radical Agenda
Publication -Research and Commentaries -While everyone in Washington is chatting about a different nominee, President Barack Obama’s choice of Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is an equally unique one and in some ways the more surprising choice. -
Research & Commentary: Nuclear Energy Reprocessing
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Nuclear energy has become a hotly debated issue with President Barack Obama’s announcement that he wants to triple public financing for new nuclear power plants (through $54. -
Research & Commentary: Wisconsin Auto Insurance Mandates and Minimum Rate Hikes
Publication -Research and Commentaries -In his 2009 budget, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle introduced a series of regulatory changes to Wisconsin’s auto insurance market. -
Research & Commentary: South Carolina Cigarette Tax Ignores Real Budget Problems
Publication -Research and Commentaries -South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of a 50-cents-per-pack cigarette tax hike shows he understands such tax hikes are bad for the state’s economy and bad for all of the state’s taxpayers, not just those who smoke. -
Research and Commentary: K-12 Teacher Tenure and Merit Pay
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Last week, Florida’s legislature passed landmark legislation to tie teacher compensation to educational outcomes and phase out tenure for K-12 teachers. On April 15, Gov. -
Research & Commentary: New Hampshire’s Vanishing Tax Advantage
Publication -Research and Commentaries -New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch (D) has proposed his fifth cigarette tax increase in five years. The 20 cents-per-pack increase would bring New Hampshire’s cigarette tax to $1.98 per pack, well above the national average.
