The Heartland Institute

As Montana legislators wrap up their legislative session, school reform measures have made some progress for the first time in a largely blue, traditional, and rural state. Although a proposal to allow charter schools in the state failed in the Senate after six Republicans switched their votes, the House and Senate passed tax ...

According to this news article, China will introduce a set of new taxation policies designed to preserve the environment, including a tax on carbon dioxide emissions. ...

In the past few years members of Congress have proposed several bills to expand states’ ability to force out-of-state retailers to collect sales taxes for online and mail-order sales even if the seller has no physical presence in the state. The latest proposal before Congress is the Marketplace Fairness Act, proposed by Sens ...

If Congress set out right now to craft a law to sabotage the global competitiveness of the U.S. economy, they'd have trouble coming up with one better than what they passed in 2010 in the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. The law is ostensibly aimed at combating tax evasion and requires every foreign financial institution ...

As states implement the federal health care law, many are debating whether to expand their Medicaid programs in order to receive a larger federal subsidy. Gov. Tom Corbett recently announced his opposition to expanding Medicaid, noting the system’s already high costs and need for reform. If Pennsylvania expands its Medicaid program ...

Heartland Institute senior fellow James M. Taylor testified in the Kansas legislature February 14 on a bill to delay or repeal the state’s renewable power mandates. Taylor pointed out that renewable power is substantially more expensive than conventional power, and Kansas already has the highest electricity prices in the region ...

Benjamin Domenech discusses Scott Walker's Medicaid solution. ...

Meteorologist Richard Keen ripped the Associated Press this morning for claiming warmer temperatures produce more blizzards. Keen, an atmospheric scientist emeritus at the University of Colorado, took apart the Associated Press claims in a compelling, point-by-point manner. In addition to debunking the Associated Press claims, Keen ...

Everybody knows what will happen if you set up a private mint in your basement, stamp out a few coins, and call them “nickels” or “dimes.” You won’t circulate much longer than they will. Most Americans today would recoil at the suggestion that coinage could or should be issued privately. They’re unaware that private coinage ...

As states implement the federal health care law, many are debating whether to expand their Medicaid programs in order to receive a larger federal subsidy. Gov. Rick Snyder recently announced expansion “makes sense for the physical and fiscal health of Michigan,” but state taxpayers may disagree. If Michigan expands its Medicaid ...

Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder is recommending the state undertake a huge expansion of Medicaid, originally mandated by Obamacare but made optional by the Supreme Court's ruling on the law last June. If Michigan expands the program, the federal government will pick up 100 percent of the cost for the first three years ...

Central banks around the world bought 534.6 tons of gold in 2012, the most since 1964, according to the World Gold Council, an international gold industry organization. In a report released in February, the World Gold Council said global gold demand hit a record dollar-value level in 2012, at $236.4 billion. Purchases by central ...

For governors who can’t just say no to the Medicaid expansion for political reasons, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s stance is going to be the guide: expansion into the exchanges, not the Medicaid program. Governor Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin) announced Wednesday that Wisconsin will not accept federal funding under the Affordable ...

Standard & Poor’s is the only credit rating agency to have downgraded U.S. government debt, and now it is the only credit rating agency to be sued by the government over its ratings of housing-backed securities. Whether it remains the only one to be sued remains to be seen. The U.S. government and several states have announced ...

While Texas lawmakers have so far proposed relatively small school choice programs, more than that may happen in this legislative session, say local observers. Even with Republicans firmly in control of the governor’s office and both houses of the legislature, “advancing school choice in Texas has proven enormously difficult,” said ...

School choice advocates are optimistic Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s education proposals released February 18 will become law in some form, but they predict more protests in the state capitol before then. Walker’s proposals include expanding the Milwaukee and Racine voucher program statewide, developing an independent board to oversee ...

Maine legislators are considering an education reform that has garnered significant national attention: the Parent Trigger. The legislation, first passed in California, has been considered in approximately 20 other states, and legislators in five states have stated their intention to propose it in early 2013. A Parent Trigger would ...

James M. Taylor, senior fellow for environment policy at The Heartland Institute and managing editor of Environment & Climate News, talks with Jim Lakely about the future of energy and environment policy in a second term for Barack Obama. Taylor and Lakely cover the Interior Department’s decision to put 1.6 million ...

Ohio Gov. John Kasich detailed in a budget proposal his plans for expanding Medicaid eligibility as called for under President Obama’s health care law. Kasich, a Republican, faced pressure from liberal groups devoted to increasing the entitlement program, as well as from health care providers backed into a corner by Obama’s ...

Amicus Brief to the Supreme Court of the United States prepared by the American Soybean Association in support of the preservation of patent law for genetically modified soybeans. The brief argues doing so will support the development of new seed biotechnology that will enhance efficiency and profitability by controlling weeds ...