The Heartland Institute

Momentum is building to cut or eliminate Arizona’s capital gains tax. In January, Gov. Jan Brewer (R) included in her proposed fiscal agenda for the year the broad goal of lightening the tax load on capital gains income. Although she remained agnostic on how to do it, several bills filed in the legislature were aimed at ...

First as a candidate and then as president, Barack Obama repeatedly promised his administration would “have a health care plan that would save the average family $2,500 on their premiums.” Yet since the president passed his health care law, with exclusively Democratic support in Congress, health premiums have continued to rise ...

With transportation coffers barely able to maintain highways, let alone adding new capacity to relieve congestion, many transportation economists and urban planners have concluded that the best solution to U.S. freeway congestion is to implement variable pricing on all congested freeways. At the same time, many political scientists ...

With transportation coffers barely able to maintain highways, let alone adding new capacity to relieve congestion, many transportation economists and urban planners have concluded that the best solution to U.S. freeway congestion is to implement variable pricing on all congested freeways. At the same time, many political scientists ...

The Arizona legislature is considering bills to facilitate student access to online learning and to help virtual schools hold students to higher standards. SB 1259 and SB 1255 both address important areas of need, says Jonathan Butcher, education director at the Arizona-based Goldwater Institute. Senate Bill 1259 would have the ...

The recent discovery of vast deposits of oil and natural gas trapped in shale rock formations has revolutionized our nation’s short-term, mid-term, and long-term energy outlook. For example, proven natural gas reserves in the United States rose by 40 percent between 2004 and 2009. At the same time, new technological advancements ...

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) signed legislation expanding the state’s tax credit scholarship on the same day the Virginia legislature approved the state’s first tax credit scholarship. Arizona’s new law allows an individual to contribute $500 to a nonprofit private-school scholarship fund and receive in return a credit to his ...

Approximately 59,000 American Indian students live in Arizona --approximately 5 percent of total student enrollment. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, Arizona’s American Indian students score below the state average on the National Assessment of Educational Progress reading and mathematics exams. American ...

The current economic environment of low—virtually zero—interest rates has hit savers hard, but the US Federal Reserve’s accommodative monetary policy is actually having a stabilizing effect on the economy. Abruptly raising interest rates could harm economic growth and the housing market. Until the economy stabilizes enough that ...

Arizona state Sen. Rick Murphy (R-Glendale) has proposed expanding the state’s tax credit for individuals donating money towards K-12 private school tuition because. Currently, demand for the resulting scholarships exceeds the program cap. Murphy’s proposal passed the Senate Finance Committee on January 12 and awaits a vote from ...

Executive Summary Following the passage of “Chemicals of Concern” legislation in Maine, Washington, and California, several states are considering adopting similar statutes. Although everyone supports reasonable measures aimed at protecting human health and the environment, these particular efforts are ill-considered and unnecessary ...

An Arizona judge has refused to block education savings accounts for disabled and foster children in the state, removing one more hurdle to school choice for the state’s one million schoolchildren. “The exercise of parental choice among education options makes the program constitutional,” ruled Maricopa County Superior Court Judge ...

State Rep. Jack Harper (R-Surprise) has proposed legislation that would amend Arizona’s constitution to allow state-funded vouchers for disabled and foster children. “I believe [a voucher] breaks down the barriers to competition and sharpens the focus of public schools to want to do a good job for every child,” he said. In ...

This report is the summary of extensive research that examined the criticism that has been leveled over the past three years at the national efforts to improve intercity passenger rail and introduce true high-speed passenger rail in the United States. In the course of this research it has been heartening to discover that there ...

Members of Congress from Arizona are squaring off with the Obama administration over uranium mining near the Grand Canyon. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has said he would like to impose a 20-year moratorium on new mining claims in 1.1 million acres of public forest land surrounding the Grand Canyon. The Arizona congressmen ...

At least eight states have implemented de facto regulations on chemicals they deem “hazardous” by creating “chemicals of concern” lists. Proponents claim the lists are necessary to protect consumers from potentially hazardous chemicals in products, and they argue a lack of federal regulations means states must step in. Opponents ...

The growth of online learning changes the discussion of choice in education from choosing a school to choosing individual services that specifically meet a student’s needs, says Dan Lips in a policy brief for the Goldwater Institute. This requires also changing school funding models to one that attaches money to the individual ...

Picture a typical public school classroom: Rows of students facing a blackboard, with a teacher lecturing. It’s the same scene in 2011 as it was in 1911 – and, in a world of laptop computers, smartphones and iPads, it’s wildly out of date and ineffective. But that is changing. Today, the breadth of digital learning programs ...

Record high levels of unemployment and record low reserve funds have placed great pressure on the federal-state unemployment insurance (UI) tax and benefit system. Between 2008 and 2011, $174 billion was paid in unemployment taxes while $450 billion was paid out in benefits, a gap of $276 billion. In 2011 alone, employers and ...

Phoenix taxpayers spend millions of dollars to pay full salary and benefits for city employees to work exclusively for labor unions, a Goldwater Institute investigation has found. Collective bargaining agreements with seven labor organizations require the city to pay union officers and provide members with thousands of additional ...