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Tobacco
Research & Commentary: Alabama Gov. Bentley’s Tobacco Tax Hike Proposal
In an effort to close Alabama’s $200 million budget hole, Gov. Robert Bentley (R) has proposed a series of tax increases during the state’s special legislative session, including several major tax increases on cigarettes and vaping products. Bentley’s tax proposal would increase the per-pack cigarette tax from 42 cents to 67 cents and create a new tax on electronic cigarettes of 25 cents per milliliter. In this Research & Commentary, Senior Policy Analyst Matthew Glans argues the new tax proposed in Alabama would only contract the state’s economy over time and result in revenue shortfalls and further tax increases. Alabama should not undermine efforts to help people quit smoking. Sin taxes disproportionately harm lower-income taxpayers while punishing local businesses. Read more
Budget and Tax
Research & Commentary: Right-to-Work Debate Continues in Missouri
Missouri is once again considering becoming the 26th right-to-work state, a reform that would have a dramatic effect on the state, creating new jobs and improving the state’s business climate and economic competitiveness. Missouri’s proposed right-to-work law would prohibit employers from requiring an employee to join or refuse to join a union, pay fees or other charges to a union, or pay any third party or charity instead of paying a union. In this Research & Commentary, Senior Policy Analyst Matthew Glans examines Missouri’s right-to-work proposal and argues the reforms would be effective in creating new jobs and population growth. Read more
Education
Florida Legislators Recognize Need for Flexibility, Choice in Special Education
Heather Kays, a research fellow at The Heartland Institute and the managing editor of School Reform News explains in thisTownhall article how Florida legislators have recognized the need for flexibility and choice when determining how to distribute special-education funding. According to Kays, “This year Florida legislators have tripled the amount of money allocated for the program, raising funding from $18.4 million to $53.4 million. That’s enough money to help more than 5,000 students during the next school year. This year, the first year of the program, about 1,700 students received accounts. Eligibility now includes three- and four-year-olds with diagnoses covered by the program. Students with muscular dystrophy and anywhere on the autism disorder spectrum will also be eligible. Previously, the state used a nonmedical definition of autism that excluded some autistic students. Part-time tutoring will now be an approved expense for children enrolled fulltime as private school or homeschool students.” Read more
Energy and Environment
Biotech Foods Can Save People and the Environment
Earth’s population is expected to peak during this century at approximately 9 billion and then will quickly taper off, according to a report by the Pew Research Center. In order to feed that peak population, food production will need to triple by 2050. Even if all farmers adopt modern farming practices with high inputs of fertilizers and pesticides, the most we can realistically hope to do is double crop production on the current amount of land we are using. In this article published in The Hill, H. Sterling Burnett, a research fellow at The Heartland Institute and the managing editor of Environment & Climate News,argues biotech food is the solution to an ever-growing population. Read more
Health Care
Research & Commentary: Affordable Care Act CO-Ops Are Failing
In an effort to improve competition in the health care insurance marketplace and on the new health insurance exchanges, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) established a program to assist in the creation of new private nonprofit health insurers, known as Consumer Oriented and Operated Plans (CO-OP). The ACA CO-OP program’s goal is to offer low-interest loans to groups to maintain their newly created health plans. Recent results from internal government audits of CO-OPs have not been positive. In this Research & Commentary, Senior Policy Analyst Matthew Glans discusses what the audits of these programs found: The vast majority of the CO-OPs created under the ACA are losing money and could have great difficulty repaying their loans. Glans argues state legislatures should keep a close eye on their CO-OPs and avoid investing more taxpayer dollars in CO-OP programs that have not generated positive results. Read more
From Our Free-Market Friends
Learn Liberty Video: Extended Cut: Should the terminally ill have the right to try non FDA approved drugs?
Should terminally ill patients have the right to try drugs not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or should they have to wait on the lengthy FDA approval process in order to get access to potentially life-saving drugs? Should patients have access to experimental, non-FDA-approved drugs if they are just sick but not terminally ill? In this Learn Liberty video, Towson economics professor Howard Baetjer interviews students to see what Millennials believe about right-to-try reform. Watch here
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