The Heartland Institute

As Congress considers whether to allow the capital gains tax rate to increase at the beginning of 2013, states across the nation are debating whether to change their own capital gains tax rates. Oregon’s capital gains taxes are among the nation’s highest. According to the Federation of Tax Administrators, Oregon is tied with ...

Although the original version of the government-run public option was not included in President Obama’s health care law, an alternate approach will be rolled out in 2013 which may represent a stealth version of the unpopular proposal. Section 1334 of Obama’s law creates federally administered multistate insurance plans (MSP) to ...

Major banks recently reported their best year since 2006, but bankers worry about future economic and regulatory conditions. The combined profits of $63 billion of the six largest banks are the most since before the subprime lending crisis struck in 2007. The subprime crisis, as it turned out, was just the tip of the iceberg ...

Jim Lakely, co-director of Heartland's Center on the Digital Economy, speaks with Scott Mackey, partner at KSE Partners LLP in Montpelier, Vermont, about his new report examining taxes and fees on wireless consumers. The report is titled, "Wireless Taxes and Fees Continue Growth Trend." ...

So why is it that the governors of Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming have all said no to a state-implemented health insurance exchange? Scott Walker’s letter explaining ...

Performance may affect teacher pay at Newark Public Schools, after local teachers union members voted to approve a new contract Nov. 14. Nearly 62 percent of member voters approved the deal. Two days later, Gov. Chris Christie (R) called it a model for the nation. Schools in New Jersey’s largest city have struggled academically ...

Evergreen State College says it would be sued for discrimination if it refuses to allow a man to wander around naked in the college’s women’s locker room in the presence of young girls, and use the sauna with his male genitalia visible, because the man gender-identifies himself as a woman. Elementary and high school ...

In the past few years members of Congress have proposed several bills to expand states’ ability to tax purchases made online and from mail-order catalogs. The Main Street Fairness Act, Marketplace Equity Act, and Marketplace Fairness Act all would expand states’ ability to charge sales taxes on out-of-state retailers regardless ...

Across the country, governors face two key decisions post-election : do they force the feds to implement exchanges, or do they try to do it themselves, in which case the states have to rush to make them work, to pay for them with higher taxes on premiums, and could see a good deal of political blowback; and do they implement ...

Family fragmentation undeniably hurting U.S. social mobility and the economy—but what to do about it? And how can education help? Dr. Mitch Pearlstein joins the podcast to discuss this topic, related to his book, From Family Collapse to America’s Decline, forthcoming book, and a recent symposium he hosted about how to benefit ...

The Heartland Institute is partnering with the Germany-based European Institute for Climate and Energy (EIKE) to host the Eighth International Conference on Climate Change November 30 - December 1 in Munich, Germany. The event is also the Fifth International Conference on Climate and Energy. This is the second time Heartland ...

This draft legislation outlines a Michigan school finance system in which most state per-pupil funding would follow individual students to any public school the student chooses to attend. Districts would be free to choose whether they want to accept non-district students. The 302-page proposal would also give early high school ...

Michigan’s 2012 budget incentivized school districts to solicit bids from outside vendors to provide support services, among other best practices. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s 2012 school privatization survey shows many districts took the incentive and contracted for at least one of the three main support services. In ...

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson must not have gotten the memo about the Barack Obama administration would be the most open and transparent presidential administration ever. The House Science, Space and Technology Committee is investigating whether U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson is conducting official ...

Residents of certain states banning payment of an entry fee, or other payments, for participation in a game of skill can’t enter the National Geographic magazine photography contest, which requires a $15 entry fee from participants. That means, the National Geographic Web site warns, “Contest is void in Cuba, Iran, New Jersey ...

The Obama administration maintains that pushing hospitals and physicians to adopt electronic medical records will improve efficiency, increase patient safety, and reduce health care costs. But as more providers transition to EMRs, there has been an unexpected consequence: Billions of dollars in higher costs for Medicare, private ...

Several states either have begun transitioning away from franchise taxes or are considering repeal. A franchise tax is a state tax levied on businesses and partnerships chartered within a state. It acts as a privilege tax: A company paying the tax is allowed to do business in a state under its corporate name. Franchise taxes ...

With the reelection of President Barack Obama, the implementation of the federal health care law is moving forward, leaving states that have resisted implementation to make some key health care decisions. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has long encouraged states to implement their own health insurance ...

Will Obama Tax the Internet? Seton Motley, President of LessGovernment.org discusses the future of the internet under President Obama. ...

Arizona Department of Environmental Quality officials denounced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to impose unnecessarily strict air pollution controls at the AEPCO Apache Generating Station near Benson, the APS Cholla Power Plant near Joseph City, and the SRP Coronado Generating Station near St. Johns under a ...