Publications
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Research & Commentary: A Federal Balanced Budget Amendment
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The current public outrage over bailouts, excessive spending, and a staggering national debt are helping fuel the push for a federal balanced budget amendment. -
Ten Principles of Federal Tax Policy
Publication -Legislative Principles -This booklet focuses on the federal income tax, since this tax collects by far the most revenue and affects the most people in the United States. -
Research & Commentary: The Problem with ‘Fat’ Taxes
Publication -Research and Commentaries -States are increasingly looking to soda, candy, and other so-called “fat” taxes as a way to shore up their budgets. -
Ten Principles of Federal Tax Policy
Publication -Legislative Principles -The power to tax is the most ubiquitous of all government powers. It reaches directly or indirectly to all classes of people, all industries, all elements of society. Taxes always place at least some burdens on business, individuals, and the economy. -
The Patriot’s Toolbox
Publication -Books -Rarely have more people in the United States been so deeply concerned about the direction of their country as right now, in 2010. -
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. -
Ten Principles for Improved Business Climates
Publication -Legislative Principles -The “business climate” of a nation, state, or city refers to the combined effect on businesses of public policies, natural endowments, and other assets that affect business start-ups and profitability. -
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: 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: 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: 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. -
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: 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 & 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. -
The Financial Turmoil of 2007-XX: Sinners and Their Sins
Publication -Policy Briefs -The financial crisis that started in the summer of 2007 in the subprime mortgage market in the U.S. -
No. 126 The State Public Pension Crisis: A 50-State Report Card
Publication -Policy Studies -Taxpayers in almost every U.S. state owe large and possibly unpayable retirement pensions to the men and women who work for the government. -
The Financial Turmoil of 2007-XX: Sinners and Their Sins
Publication -Policy Briefs -The financial crisis that started in the summer of 2007 in the subprime mortgage market in the U.S. -
Research & Commentary: Subsidizing Sports Stadiums
Publication -Research and Commentaries -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 welfare in the hundreds of millions of dollars. -
Research & Commentary: Universal Access and Service Funds Are Outdated, Costly
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Federal and state universal access and service funds (UASFs) have become an ineffective and outdated use of taxpayer money. -
Research & Commentary: Credit Union Member Business Lending
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Access to credit is an essential component of a market system, and the tightening of credit markets in the course of the economic downturn has businesses and entrepreneurs struggling to sustain themselves and grow. Small businesses have suffered the most. -
Research & Commentary: Gross Receipts Taxes New Mexico Update
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Having begun to move away from gross receipts taxes (GRT) in 2005, New Mexico lawmakers are considering reinstating the tax on groceries in an effort to close the state's budget shortfall. -
Research & Commentary: Governor’s Support for Tobacco Tax Makes No Fiscal Sense
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Gov. Mark Parkinson's recommendation to use a cigarette tax increase to help cover Kansas's $300 million budget deficit should be worrisome not only to smokers, but also to nonsmokers and legislators who want to be fiscally responsible.
