Opinion
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Pennsylvania Tax Credit Program Celebrated for Six Years of Choice
Opinion -After six years of increasing educational opportunities, Pennsylvania's tax credit program remains the state's best hope for expanding school choice, says a leading reformer. -
Pressure Is Building for States to Reveal Spending
Opinion -A movement to bring transparency into government spending is gaining steam across the country. -
Schwarzenegger Makes Gray Look Good
Opinion -Three years after Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) was elected California's governor on the promise to "cut up the credit cards," the state's debt burden has more than doubled. When Gov. -
Smokes, Drinks Are Tax Targets in Michigan
Opinion -A proposal to raise taxes on "services" in Michigan appears unlikely to move forward, but proposals to raise taxes on liquor, cigarettes, and other tobacco products apparently are still under consideration. Gov. -
State Post-Employment Benefits Debts Heading Toward Crisis
Opinion -While early estimates suggested state and local governments have accumulated hundreds of billions of dollars of debt in unfunded "other post-employment benefits" (OPEBs), revised estimates now indicate those early numbers may have been much too low. -
Tax-Hike Proponents Refuse to Pay More Themselves
Opinion -Tax Me More accounts, also known as voluntary contribution accounts, have brought in precious little revenue to date, vividly demonstrating the hypocrisy behind many calls for higher taxes. -
Temporary Stadium Keys Chicago’s Olympic Bid
Opinion -A plan for construction of a temporary stadium was central to Chicago's winning bid to host the 2016 Olympics.Chicago's U.S. rival was Los Angeles. The winning U.S. -
Texas Governor Wants Medicaid Reforms, More Private Insurance
Opinion -Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) is proposing several bold steps to reform the state Medicaid program and help the uninsured purchase health insurance, including subsidies to help people buy private insurance and fund Health Savings Accounts. -
The Issue: Corporate Tuition Tax Credits
Opinion -Of all Arizona's attempts over the years to provide education options for poor students, the law allowing corporations to take a dollar-for-dollar credit on their taxes is the best-structured reform effort so far. -
U.S. Census Bureau Admits It Has Over-Counted the Uninsured
Opinion -The U.S. Census Bureau reported in late March that more Americans have health insurance than it had previously reported. It says about 1. -
Utah Board of Ed Won’t Implement Voucher Program
Opinion -The Utah state board of education on May 3 voted not to implement a law that would allow the state’s new universal voucher program to take effect this autumn. -
Pelosi Claims about Global Warming Questionable
Opinion -House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) claims she saw first-hand evidence of global warming in Greenland (May 28). She must have brought a pretty powerful microscope with her. Science magazine reported in November 2005 that Greenland was losing just 0. -
Global Warming Alarmists Disregard Temperature Predictions
Opinion -Regarding “Ocean study sounds another alarm on global warming” (May 18), it is ironic how we are always told that “a new study shows global warming is worse than previously thought,” yet even global warming alarmists continually -
Cable TV and Phone Calls Are Taxed at Twice the Rate of Other Goods, Study Finds
Opinion -A new study produced by a team of researchers from The Heartland Institute and Beacon Hill Institute finds taxes and fees imposed on cable TV and telephone subscribers are twice as high as the average sales tax on other products. -
Taxes and Fees on Communication Services – 59 City Tables
Opinion -Cable television and telephone subscribers pay hefty taxes and fees on these services, while Internet access is largely untaxed. The burden on telephone and cable subscribers in 59 cities for which complete data are available is 13.40 percent. -
NASA’s Top Official Questions Global Warming
Opinion -NASA administrator Michael Griffin is drawing the ire of his agency’s preeminent climate scientists after apparently downplaying the need to combat global warming. -
Automakers Abandon Scientific Proof
Opinion -Regarding “Automakers try to salvage victory from climate defeat” (May 3), any inclination by automakers to abandon sound science and “buy a seat at the table” by supporting carbon dioxide restrictions is a classic example of the so-called “prisoners’ -
Taxes and Fees on Communication Services: Talking Points
Opinion -Key Findings of Heartland Policy Study No. 113, Taxes and Fees on Communication Services: Taxes and fees imposed on cable TV and telephone subscribers are, on average, more than twice as high as taxes on other retail goods, 13.40 percent versus 6. -
Lawsuit Abuse Fortnightly #6-6
Opinion -Thanks a Million-Plus The lawyers for the plaintiffs in a class-action case hit the jackpot before a Cook County Circuit Court judge in Chicago but were severely reprimanded, as was the defendant, by the judge in a companion case in North Carolina. -
Minimum Wage Increase Won’t Help Low-income Workers
Opinion -Dear Editor: With Congress hiking the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7. -
Heartland Institute Experts Take Issue with Democrats’ ‘Innovation Agenda’
Opinion -In late April, the U.S. House of Representatives took the first of many anticipated steps to implement the Democrats’ “Innovation Agenda: A Commitment to Competitiveness. -
Are You Paying Too Much in Telephone Taxes?
Opinion -Did you know the taxes you pay on a typical phone call are more than twice as high as the taxes you pay on most other goods? Depending on where you live, your phone taxes could even be higher than taxes on alcohol and tobacco products! -
Consumer Power Report #81
Opinion -Consumer Power Report, written by Greg Scandlen, director of Consumers for Health Care Choices at The Heartland Institute, is a weekly report summarizing recent developments on consumer-directed health care in the media, legislative, and regulatory -
Bridge the Digital Divide: Cut Telecom Taxes
Opinion -Americans pay an astounding $37 billion a year in taxes, surcharges, and fees on cable TV, landline, and wireless phone calls. That translates to an average telecom tax of $250 a year from every household.