Opinion
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Google as a Public Utility? No Results in This Search for Monopoly
Opinion -The Google search engine is one of the Net’s great success stories, with one analyst projecting possible revenues of $800 million and profits of $200 million this year. Just a few short years ago no one had even heard of this company. -
US and EU on Collision Course Over Taxes
Opinion -The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled on November 10 that U.S. tariffs on imported steel, imposed in March 2002, violate global trade rules. -
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. -
New Mexico Rejects Gas Tax Hike
Opinion -A special session of the New Mexico legislature closed on November 5 after rejecting a hike in the state’s gasoline tax but approving a 3 cents per gallon increase in the diesel fuel tax. -
Maine Voters Can’t Agree on Economy-Busting School Funding Plans
Opinion -Maine voters went to the polls on November 4 for a Referendum Election that presented six questions addressing everything from horse racing and casinos to bond issues for higher education and highways. -
‘No Tax’ Pledge Signers Win in Mississippi and Kentucky
Opinion -Mississippi taxpayers celebrated in early November at the election of Republican Haley Barbour as the state’s next governor. -
Philadelphia Weighs Property Tax Reform
Opinion -Pennsylvania was the birthplace of one of the most novel approaches to property taxation: the “two-rate,” or land value tax (LVT), developed by Philadelphia-born philosopher and economist Henry George (1839-1897). -
County Officials, Business Leaders Oppose Cook County Tax Plan
Opinion -A tax increase proposal floated in late October by John Stroger, president of the Cook County, Illinois, Board of Commissioners, attracted the ire of the Chicago business community and suspicion from the county commissioners who serve under him. -
Suing Gun Makers Won’t Stop Gun Violence
Opinion -Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley recently joined officials from New York and Los Angeles in urging the U.S. Senate to reject a bill banning lawsuits against gun manufacturers. -
Practical Virtues
Opinion -Courage, Diligence, Faith, Forbearance, Forgiveness, Honesty, Love, Loyalty, Prudence, Responsibility, Service, and Trustworthiness—those are the titles of the 12 chapters of a new book by the Reverend Floyd H. Flake and his wife, A.M.E. -
Amid NCLB Negativism, Bright Spots Appear
Opinion -For the second year in a row, thousands of American schoolchildren are failing to receive the benefits of the limited educational choice to which they are entitled under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. -
GAO Cable Report Smacks Down a la Carte Regulation
Opinion -On October 24, the U.S. General Accounting Office released its long-awaited report on cable industry rate competition, “Issues Related to Competition and Subscriber Rates in the Cable Television Industry. -
IT in the News
Opinion -Broadband Prices Fall, Connections Surge “A new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project says 31 percent of U.S. Web households now reach the Net via a broadband connection, up 50 percent in a year. -
Congress Considers Rolling Back Federal Beer Tax
Opinion -As Pennsylvania lawmakers ponder a new “drink tax,” Congress is considering a rollback of federal excise taxes on beer. -
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. -
Commuter Taxes Hit at Philadelphia Hearing
Opinion -City officials in Philadelphia were recently told to reduce their politically popular but economically destructive taxes on nonresident workers. The Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission received expert testimony at a public hearing in October 2003. -
12/2003 Friedman Report Profile: Virginia Walden Ford
Opinion -Virginia Walden Ford’s energetic yet assured and level leadership has been central to the progress achieved by voucher advocates in the District of Columbia. -
12/2003 Friedman Report: School Choice Roundup
Opinion -California * Colorado * Florida Georgia * Minnesota CALIFORNIA Teacher Union Gives Dean Early Endorsement With eight other Democratic candidates still in the race and the Presidential election still more than a year away, the California -
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 -
Black-White Achievement Gap Is Widening
Opinion -Although a new report about the education of blacks in the U.S. shows evidence of some progress, U.S. -
Dealing with Uncle Sam
Opinion -All taxpayers know that the federal government uses tax and spending policy to redistribute income from citizens with high incomes to those who earn little. -
Decentralizing Hawaii’s Public School System
Opinion -Hawaii’s current education system is highly centralized, despite the dispersed geographic nature of a multi-island state and the unique needs of individual communities. -
Do What’s Right: an exclusive interview with Robert E. Gallagher
Opinion -Parochial school administrators may do their best to keep tuition as low as possible, but often it is privately funded scholarships that make education at a private school a reality for many children from low-income families in the inner city. -
Frist and Hastert Urged to Support DC Scholarships
Opinion -Managing Editor’s note: On October 21, Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Speaker J.
