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Transportation
Research & Commentary: Gas Tax Hikes Are Not the Answer for Arkansas’ Roads
In August, a coalition of construction and contracting companies wrote a letter to the Arkansas Working Group on Highway Funding calling for a 10-cent increase in the state’s motor fuel tax for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. The proposed tax hike would raise an estimated $138 million, but not all of these funds would be used on state roads. The Highway Department would receive only $87.6 million of the new dollars. The remaining 36.5 percent would be divided between county roads, city roads, and administrative costs.
In this Research & Commentary, Senior Policy Analyst Matthew Glans argues Arkansas’ gas tax is already high compared to neighboring states and increasing the tax would make the price of gas in Arkansas less competitive. The tax would fall most heavily on lower- and moderate-income Arkansans. Read more
Budget and Tax
Research & Commentary: Minimum Wage Reform in Missouri
In this Research & Commentary, Senior Policy Analyst Matthew Glans explains, “Minimum wage hikes are not an effective method of reducing poverty. They harm workers by creating barriers to entry for less-skilled and less-educated people. Increasing a city’s minimum wage will cause more people to lose their jobs and make the city less competitive.” Many of Missouri’s largest cities are located near neighboring states, which means the higher mandated wages Missouri businesses would have to face would create stiff competition from bordering towns and cities in Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, and Nebraska, where minimum wage laws may create a stronger business climate. Read more
Education
Heartland Daily Podcast – Heather Kays: Troubling Education News from Washington State
In this edition of the Heartland Daily Podcast, Director of Communications Jim Lakely speaks with Heather Kays, managing editor of School Reform News, about three troubling education stories coming out of the state of Washington: the Washington Supreme Court ruling on charter schools, the Seattle teachers strike, and how the state is being fined for “chronic underfunding” of the education system. Tune in here
Energy and Environment
States Are Right to Pressure EPA with ‘Nullification’ Efforts
In a recent op-ed published in Townhall Magazine, Kyle Maichle, project manager for The Heartland Institute’s Center for Constitutional Reform, discusses the lawsuit filed by 16 state attorneys general against the Environmental Protection Agency over President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan. The lawsuit was filed Utility executives in those states would be left with just two options if EPA’s plan goes forward: either close down power plants or adopt expensive technologies such as carbon capture. Research conducted by the Beacon Hill Institute demonstrates the likely impact of EPA’s mandates: Louisiana citizens, for example, would see a 22 percent increase in their energy bills over 15 years, would experience a $181 million loss in capital investment, and would lose more than 20,995 jobs. The citizens of other states would suffer similar pain. . Read more
Health Care
‘Jiffy’ Health Clinics Save Patients Money and Time, Undermine Obamacare
In this Heartlander article, Justin Haskins, editor for The Heartland Institute. examines “jiffy” health care clinics, which represent one of the fastest-growing sectors of the health care industry, providing quick, convenient, and affordable primary care services without the long waits and higher costs of traditional family practices.
Haskins also discusses how the rise of jiffy clinics relates to the much-maligned Obamacare health care law. “Far more people than previously expected have enrolled in Medicaid rather than purchase subsidized Obamacare health insurance policies; family practitioners are turning away Medicaid patients in droves; and a growing number of Americans are heading to emergency rooms for care. All of this indicates the expected infusion of cash into the primary care marketplace has not occurred,” he writes. Read more
From Our Free-Market Friends
Taxpayers Protection Alliance Releases New Report on NFL Stadium Financing
A recent report from the Taxpayers Protection Alliance examines the economic impact of taxpayer-financed NFL stadiums on the people who pay the taxes that fund the construction of those stadiums. Michi Iljazi, communications and policy manager for the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, writes, “Since 1995, a staggering 29 of the 31 stadiums that house NFL teams received public subsidies for construction, renovation or both. Over the last twenty years, taxpayers have been forced to spend nearly $7 billion subsidizing NFL stadium construction and renovation projects.” Read more
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