Opinion
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Virginia Governor Proposes Largest Budget, Tax Increase in State History
Opinion -Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner (D) on December 17 presented his executive budget for the 2005-2006 biennium to the joint money committees of the commonwealth’s General Assembly. -
Pennsylvania Legislature Finishes Only Half of Budget Business
Opinion -Although they did not get the property tax relief measure they were holding out for, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives nevertheless voted 104-89 on December 22 to approve $1 billion in new taxes to finance new programs and close a state budget -
Oregon Should Follow the Example of Florida, Outsource Human Resource Services
Opinion -A tax recall vote on Oregon’s February 3 ballot is just one indication that taxpayers nationwide prefer spending cuts, rather than tax increases, for balancing state budgets. -
Cook County Board Considers Compromise to Cut Spending
Opinion -On December 15, a respected Chicago civic institution offered the Cook County (Illinois) Board of Commissioners advice on how to balance its fiscal 2004 budget with spending cuts, not tax hikes. -
Spending Our Future Tax Cuts?
Opinion -Not too long ago, conservative lawmakers talked about enacting new tax cuts each and every year of the Bush administration. The White House has been led by a President who fought for the second largest tax cut in history ... -
Virginia Has Its Own California Problem
Opinion -If you watched the recall of Governor Gray Davis and the elevation of Arnold Schwarzenegger in California, you know the Golden State is in dire fiscal shape. This is a state that has taxed and spent itself into near oblivion. -
ATR Ranks Dean a ‘Tax and Spend’ Governor
Opinion -Democratic Presidential hopeful Howard Dean ended 2003 on the campaign trail, defending his record as governor of Vermont. But according to Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), Dean’s record on taxes cannot be defended. -
Growing Economy Aids State Budgets
Opinion -Year-end 2003 economic reports suggested the U.S. economy is on the road to recovery. -
State Fiscal Prospects Looking Up, NGA Says
Opinion -A year ago, the National Governors Association (NGA) said states were mired in their worst budget crisis since World War II. Now, the NGA says the crisis is easing. -
Taxpayer Group Sees Promise in State Governors
Opinion -Although California lawmakers would not themselves approve Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s economic recovery proposal, they have agreed to allow Schwarzenegger to present the plan to the state’s voters. -
Massachusetts Ends Ban on Sunday Liquor Sales
Opinion -With the stroke of a pen on November 26, Governor Mitt Romney brought the Puritan State into the twenty-first century, striking down the state’s ban on Sunday alcohol sales, one of the last vestiges of the Prohibition era. -
Congress Shows Little Interest in Budget-Cutting Measures
Opinion -According to the latest BillTally study released in late November by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF), just 26 members of the 107th Congress had 2002-2003 legislative agendas that would reduce overall federal spending. -
Michigan Poll Finds Support for Smaller Government
Opinion -With their state government facing a potential $1 billion deficit, Michigan taxpayers want lawmakers to balance the budget with spending cuts rather than tax increases, according to a recent poll. -
Schwarzenegger Recovery Plan on March Ballot
Opinion -On December 12, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation, passed by the state senate earlier that day, putting his economic recovery plan before the people of California in a March 2004 ballot referendum. -
Wilmette Smoking Ban Is Bad Policy
Opinion -A hundred years ago Kin Hubbard, a newspaper columnist in Indianapolis, observed that “it ain’t what we do not know that hurts us so much; it is what we know that just ain’t so. -
Schwarzenegger Inherits Huge Budget Challenge
Opinion -The ongoing California budget problem presents one of the toughest fiscal challenges any American state has ever faced. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the beneficiary of Californians’ recall of Gray Davis, carries a clear mandate to fix the state’s finances. -
Federal Spending per Dollar of Taxes
Opinion -Federal Spending per Dollar of Taxes - 1992 and 2002 Expenditures per Dollar of Taxes 10-Year Change in spending per Dollar of Tax Ranking Change in Ranking FY 1992 FY 2002 FY 1992 FY 2002 Alabama $ 1.39 $ 1. -
ALEC Offers Friendly Advice for Arnold
Opinion -The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)--the nation’s largest bipartisan, individual membership organization for state legislators--responded to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s election with a little friendly advice on restoring the stability and -
Economics Says Wilmette Smoking Ban Is Bad Idea
Opinion -Many people don’t like the smell of cigarette smoke, and they seem to believe it is therefore appropriate and necessary that smoking be banned in places they like to be. -
Proposed Wilmette Smoking Ban Ignores Latest Medical Research
Opinion -My hometown of Wilmette, Illinois is considering an ordinance that would ban smoking in nearly all public places and restaurants. I am not a smoker myself, but I believe such a ban would be bad public policy. -
Taxes, Education Clash in Nevada
Opinion -The state of Nevada is in the midst of a constitutional tug-of-war pitting Silver State taxpayers against the state’s education bureaucracy. For the moment, the state’s top court has given the edge to the bureaucracy. -
Taxpayer Group Recognizes Top-Ranked Governors
Opinion -Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), a Washington, DC-based taxpayer advocacy group, awarded 17 governors with high ranks this year, and seven of those were given special “Gold Star” recognition. -
Federal Deficit Still Smaller than the 1980s
Opinion -If current federal laws and policies do not change, the federal government will incur a total budget deficit of $374 billion in 2003 and $480 billion in 2004, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected in its August and October Updates. -
Tax Officials Use Sleight-of-Hand to Help Balance State Budgets
Opinion -In an effort to avoid cutting programs and raising taxes, officials in a handful of cash-strapped states used bureaucratic sleight-of-hand to shift revenue into fiscal year 2004 by moving forward the date on which tax payments are due.