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Health Care
Tennessee Legislature Mulls Making People Pay More to Puff
Writing for Tennessee Watchdog, Christopher Butler examines a new proposal being considered in Tennessee that would require smokers to pay an additional 44-cent tax on each pack of cigarettes to help fund Medicaid expansion. State Rep. Gary Odom, the bill’s sponsor, believes the tax would raise about $175 million a year to expand TennCare. Critics of the bill question whether using cigarette taxes, an unreliable tax, to fund Medicaid is good public policy. Read More
Budget & Tax
Research & Commentary: Michigan Income Tax Reform
Michigan is facing a budget surplus, and as a result several legislative leaders are now considering lowering the personal income tax. In this Research & Commentary, Matthew Glans examines the income tax proposal and argues that cuts are a step in the right direction. While the ideal reform for state corporate income taxes would be to eliminate them altogether, short of that, legislators should strive for a tax system that is flat, not progressive, with as few tax brackets as possible. Read More
Telecom
No 1930s Regulations for the Internet – Let’s Modernize Instead
The D.C. Circuit Court struck down the Federal Communication Commission’s 2010 “net neutrality” rule requiring Internet service providers to treat all traffic across their networks the same – discriminating against none and favoring none. On this edition of the Heartland Daily Podcast, Jim Lakely, co-director of Heartland’s Center on the Digital Economy, and Ryan Radia of the Competitive Enterprise Institute discuss the ramifications of this decision. It’s the second time in three years the D.C. Circuit has declared illegal the FCC’s attempts to impose binding net neutrality regulations. Read More
Education
Poll: What Americans Want in Education Policy
U.S. adults say the most effective education reforms are smaller class sizes, increasing technology, and accountability, a new survey has found. The national sample of 1,000 respondents ranked vouchers the fourth-most-effective education reform, followed by limiting teachers unions, merit pay, and longer school days. Read More
Environment
Kansas Renewable Mandates Causing Skyrocketing Electricity Prices
Heartland Senior Fellow James M. Taylor examines U.S. Energy Information Administration data and finds since 2009, when Kansas first implemented its renewable power mandate, the state’s electricity prices have risen almost eight times faster than the national average. Read More
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